Terra is obliterated, the Emperor vaporized, and nothing

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How about this? The Emperor vaporizes, Chaos calms. The Imperium fractures in the ensuing peace. The Eldar reconstitute. The Tyranids and Necrons decimate each other. Grot rebellions overwhelm Orks. The Squats emerge from their siege vaults. The Tau unites the galaxy in a loose confederation. The Interex and Disporex rise in the power vacuum. Small scale warp flight and cheap Tau AI allow for a new era of exploration and enlightenment. A wave of education and secularism sweeps humanity. Mars warps out of the Terran solar system and begins a great technological revival. The destroyed Astronomicon makes humanity less dependent on central navigation and a new generation of mutants sail the void as the warp weather is mapped through a network of AI linked beacons. It is discovered that the Emperor and his Marines fed the blood god Khorne, perpetuating the cycles of violence consuming the galaxy. A week succession of sudo-emperors and Chapter masters try to claim the throne of the Emperor. Independent Commissars and Admirals become the true protectors of humanity and the Galaxy becomes a smattering of semi-feudal states ruled by Knights operating various Titan fiefdoms. Unity dissolves but population rises and production explodes. Humans are educated rather than enslaved and thus become less victimized by cults and corruption. The Galaxy remains a place of war but humanity becomes more capable of meeting these challenges. It is also wise enough to combat these threats on a scale that does not become apocalyptic slaughter. The great battles of the Galaxy are collections of raids, ambushes, and skirmishes. Epic cataclysm is reserved for orbital bombardment and fleet engagements. The Necrons and Tyranids are still unstoppable but their priority is consumption and not war. Though planets are abandoned they are always fusion mined. The resulting scorched planet policy has slowed the advance of both adversaries.

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. And new Sailing techniques of the Desporex and Eldar allow raiders to sabotage the hive fleet in the Warp. Space Marines become a relic. They occupy monasteries and grovel to whatever Admiral or Rouge trader that desires their services as boarding troops. In the end many Chapters are purged by the revised Inqusition. The ethos of gene-superiority and manipulation becomes a marginal cult in the expanding diversity of humanity. The Inquisition itself becomes an arbiter of humanities utilization of the Web Way. And in many instances recasts itself as humanities secret diplomatic arm. The Dark Eldar continue to exist as the nightmares that they are but the dark city acquires a more cosmopolitan character as Harlequins, Water Caste, Wyrds, Anarchists, Rouge Traders and Void Pirates also take up residents. The Trifecta dynasty of the three Magus has emerged with other Gene-cults beginning to rebel against the hive. Not all Genestealer cults are subject to the same blind loyalty in this age of information. Some are known to mask their psychic beacons and launch insurgencies well before the hive fleets approach. These cult worlds can even evolve new Tyrinid hives which fight against the inter-galactic swarm.

The galaxy has emerged from Dark Age. But there are still countless worlds which look as they have for 10,000 years. It is an age of uncertainty and hope. Where empires rise and fall in an ever shifting sea of star faring peoples. The history of all these beings is ancient and obscure but the future comes every day for those who touch the void.

>>49945754
>Terra is obliterated, the Emperor vaporized, and nothing happens
>What now?
>nothing happens
I think you answered your own question.

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I know it can be hard to imagine 40K without the Emperor but it isn't the end of the Galaxy.

>>49945754
>>49945788
>Chaos calms.
>The Eldar reconstitute.
>Grot rebellions overwhelm Orks
>The Tau unites the galaxy in a loose confederation
>Small scale warp flight and cheap Tau AI allow for a new era of exploration and enlightenment.
> The destroyed Astronomicon makes humanity less dependent on central navigation and a new generation of mutants sail the void as the warp weather is mapped through a network of AI linked beacons.
>It is discovered that the Emperor and his Marines fed the blood god Khorne, perpetuating the cycles of violence consuming the galaxy.
>The Dark Eldar continue to exist as the nightmares that they are but the dark city acquires a more cosmopolitan character as Harlequins, Water Caste, Wyrds, Anarchists, Rouge Traders and Void Pirates also take up residents

It's more horrible than AoS by a long way.

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>>49945771
>>49945788

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>>49945771

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>>49945771
>Grot rebellions overwhelm Orks.

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>>49945771
I want to get off Shas'o's wild ride

>>49945788
>>49945771
Are you the lead writer for AoE?

>>49945771
>>49945788
This is the ultimate skub. Every single point is the opposite of what should normally happen in 40k
>The Emperor vaporizes, Chaos calms.
>Grot rebellions overwhelm Orks.
>Small scale warp flight and cheap Tau AI allow for a new era of exploration and enlightenment.
It's too perfect.

>>49945950
Seriously, why would anyone take the grim comedy of 40k and make that noblebright? Why would anyone want to? It's disguisting, also the Tau will literally get eaten by 'Nids before they become a real threat, god forbid a real crusade fleet

>>49948150
Thank the Emperord Teeth for people who can think reasonably

>>49945754
Nothing happens. Is this a trick question?

>>49948644
I think OP means the Emperor isnt either reborn orthat his death doesnt cause a Eye of terror to be born over Terra

>>49945754
The tau takes over.

OP's suggestion obviously changes 40K's ambiance dramatically, but that's not necessarily a problem. Accepting or rejecting this choice is a matter of personal taste. Personally, I like it, even though the result obviously can't and shouldn't replace the actual 40K.

ANYWAY, I'm disappointed to see that noone tried to build another detailed epilogue like OP did. It's easy to criticize, but none of you has put the tenth of his efforts in this. Whether you like what he wrote or not, why don't you try to show us what would happen in this situation according to you? I'm pretty sure your creation would be interesting too.

>>49948918
>Tau
>Winning
>When Necrons exist

>>49945754
Literally a non-sequitur.
What would happen is that the Astronomicon would disappear, ruining ftl transportation for all of humanity.
Further, every head of office for the various parts of the gov't would vanish, throwing everything that remains into chaos.
>>49948644
Less a trick question, more stupid.

>>49945754

Lets see.

Terra is gone, so its safe to presume that the Sol system as a whole is probably lost as well. Mars and the Imperial Navy would likely have already fallen trying to provide a defense, presuming that Terra didn't just magically poof all by itself due to a Golden Throne error or something.

So that means that the Astronomicon is gone, making navigation in the warp difficult especially over long distances. More importantly, the Imperial Set of government and all of its bureaucracy is gone too, as well as (presumably) Mars as the seat of the Admech and a very large chunk of the Imperial Navy.

This kills the Imperium. Its military strength has been greatly depleted, transportation is made much less reliable, and there is now no central coordination regarding the vast trade of resources and munitions that keep Hive worlds alive and guard regiments armed.

The IoM fractures out of necessity, reducing itself into smaller more isolated chunks that are capable of providing for themselves. Some probably rally under the goal of reforging the Imperium or declaring themselves the true successors of the IoM, but not a lot is going to come of that anytime soon. The Space Marines are in a shitty situation where they are forced to forge their own mini kingdoms, but very soon the lack of galactic scale resources and admech support will mean that the tools available to the Marines just became even rarer and harder to replace. Bolt shells are going to become a scarcity soon, limited to what they can make themselves in the long run.

Chaos obviously gets rowdy and Cadia almost certainly falls, spilling forth Chaos forces intot he galaxy that run around picking off isolated human worlds. The Ork problem will get out of hand, and the Necrons and Dark Eldar can now effectively strike with impunity. The Tau absorb all of the human worlds within reach with no crusades coming to push them back.

>>49949715

Id say put the fall of Terra on the timeline, and then skip forward a thousand or so years. That gives time for the galactic situation to shake itself out some and for the new age to define itself.

Humanity is split into a number of different factions, each clinging to some previous holding of the Imperium and being forced to defend themselves and grow, perhaps in ways that the IoM would never have approved of. Heretical technology, and allying with xenos are probably more common, but you will certainly see diehard factions that stick to their guns regarding consorting with nonhumans. The Space Marines are probably few in number, having spent much of their strength defending human territory after the fall and without the resources to create new marines sustainably, especially given that man recruiting worlds and chapter houses would have been destroyed during the wars.

The Necrons are more active now, having firmly established control over some stretches of the galaxy and more of their war machines and armies being online. The have exterminated countless human worlds, and are probably the ones keeping the orks down now to prevent their spread. I imagine that the necrons and chaos are getting into fights often.

The Tau will have grown by now to a fairly impressive force, with technology to be feared, especially given that the fall of the IoM gave them an opportunity to absorb not just new worlds but lost and aimless admech. With access to Imperial technology they can make even greater leaps forward. However, as the vanguards of the Tyranid main force arrives, the Tau are forced to stop their expansion and focus on defending the galactic fringe. They are managing to hold that ground for now, but nid fleets still slip through the cracks and without something to definitively turn the tide the Tau defense line will almost certainly crumble under the sheer weight of numbers.

>>49949786

Chaos is the faction that is most up in the air right now. The fall of Terra was what they always wanted, but time has shown it to be their greatest defeat.

Chaos warbands have spread throughout the galaxy. The Imperium has crumbled. A few holdout kingdoms and factions are all that is really left of the once mighty human empire. That, and a couple of isolated worlds that never really were part of galactic affairs to begin with, and many of those have been wiped out by aliens invasions of some kind or another.

That means that the vast majority of humans are dead. And humans were Chaos's primary food supply.
The original glut of souls briefly made the chaos gods more powerful than ever (but not, as it turned out, strong enough to consume all of realspace like they had hoped) but they have seen diminishing returns and massive deficits ever since. Without a galaxy of humans, psychicly powerful but vulnerable humans, to feed off of? Chaos is slowly starving. They won't die from it, there are still enough unguarded emotions to sustain them in some form, but every day the Chaos Gods grow a little bit weaker, their deamon hordes growing a little less numerous as Chaos cannibalizes its own forces to sustain the gods. If humanity should go entirely extinct, it is likely that the chaos gods themselves will become nothing more than demon princes, with only vestiges of their former glory.

Chaos is starting to realize that if they want to maintain their power they will actually have to start PROTECTING the human worlds from outside threats, like a farmer protects its livestock. But that sort of enlightened self-interest is a foreign concept to chaos, difficult to grasp. So Chaos is stuck in a schizophrenic state where when they show it up is usually to do the same burn and pillage game, but occasionally they come to your rescue. This gets even more confusing when both appear to happen at the same time, and chaos forces fight each other.

>>49947756
I think its written like that on purpose.

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>>49948997
>>49945754
Alright if we're going to do "nothing happened, what the fuck-" how about this.

Emperor disappears but terra is still there, hell everything else is still there even the astronomicon is somehow still working so long as its fed psykers. Hes just gone, disappeared. Absent without leave. Even the Custodes dont know whats happened and no one can explain it. Is the empeor dead? Ascended? Walking amongst us? Something clearly incredible happened because the astronomicon still burns despite all logic and reason! Yet does his absence mean hes abandoned the imperium?

Panic spreads across the imperium and the galaxy as a whole as the news and mystery of his absence becomes harder to suppress. Dozens of false gods rise up claiming to be the emperor reborn, while other opportunists simply secede from the imperium claiming the emperor has abandoned the high lords of terra making their authority is null and void. The forces of Chaos try to move in, half thinking that he must be dead, half thinking that he must have just fled like a coward (A select more cautious few fearing he really has ascened). Xenos likewise take advantage of the civil war to claim territories. But the enemies of imperium fight as much with each other as they do the human territories they are trying to claim, preventing ascension of a new galactic power.

Eventually the imperium gets a miracle. Having finally heard the the primarchs return/wake up etc. (loyalist and traitor) Problem is Father isnt here to keep them working together nicely any more. Sides are drawn up and the civil war is organised into larger groups beneath the banners of the emperors sons. Its the heresy all over again but war of the three kingdoms style, a battle royale for the throne of terra and the imperium. Except this time we dont have the Emperor or Horus to rally around and no one – not even Abaddon – can convince even half of those involved to follow them without question. There remains only war.

>>49949854
>The fall of Terra was what they always wanted, but time has shown it to be their greatest defeat.
So now Terra has poofed out of existence their all left wondering the same thing.
>"Well...now what?"

>>49949854
>But that sort of enlightened self-interest is a foreign concept to chaos
well Chaos as a whole maybe, But I think Nurgle understands the concept just fine.

>>49949916

I dunno. Even Nurgle is an entirely exploitative deal. The 'papa nurgle' rhetoric is nothing more than stockholm syndrome at best, outright parasitic brainwashing at worst. Nurgle still actively delights in the physical and mental torture of his prisoners and 'family'.

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>>49949715
OP here. The first two post after the original post are my take on the situation. The idea is kind of a magical "poof" for Terra. I haven't detailed the circumstances but the important part is still that humanity and the galaxy lives on. In such an event I can imagine the whole planet of Mars warping out of the Sol system to avoid the same fate. Can the whole planet of Mars warp? This is Mars we are talking about here.
Yes some heroic end times battle probably did occur but the aftermath of such a loss is more important. I'm not sure how devastated the administration of the Imperium would be from losing all their CEO offices on Terra. Maybe a lot? With hierarchies being so sharp in the Imperium it might be the catalyst for the scenario I have laid out.
The most difficult hurdle to overcome would of course be the loss of the Astronomicon. I have mentioned this in my response. What I see is the setting going from a lot of cathedral sized ships to more Millennium Falcon sized freighters. Travel could be augmented by humanities embrace of the Web Way or new technology that better navigates warp weather. Emperor Class Battleships may still be a thing but the astropaths needed to pilot these hulks may become all the rarer. While low level wyrds and alien technology may become the new standard for warp travel.
If the emperor falls, the four ruinous powers may lose much of their archetypal personification. Chaos and Demons may still be a reality but the dedicated archetypes of say "Blood Thrusters" may fade. Chaos fleets will still prowl the void but they will be debaucherous raiders and just another competing power in the galaxy.

I detail a lot of the other points you mention in the first two posts. I think you echo a lot of my points in your post and it is nice to see that someone can creatively look past some of the dogmas of this galactic setting.

>>49950177

The problem I have with your proposal is that there are a number of points there that I don't see as following from the stated hypothetical.

As an example, the grots overwhelming the orks. Orks and Grots have been around for millions of years with the Grots never being anything more than a servant race that pops out of the ground alongside the orks. What would the death of the emperor cause the entirety of ork society (such as it is) to suddenly upend itself?

I'm not going to comment on whether or not the things you listed are good on their own merits or not, but I don't see how they stem from the central 'what if' provided by the opening hypothetical of 'Terra is gone, now what?'. They just seem kind of unrelated.

>>49945850
I think the >nothing happens was meant to head off the inevitable Main Rulebook screencap of the chaos apocalypse.

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>>49949898
Now that sounds to perfect to me. Destroy the Throne, destroy the Administration, destroy the Astronomicon. Who knows if the Emperor has even been alive for 10,000 years anyway. Just take all Terra out of the equation, it's just another hive world without all the bells and whistles. For story purposes and because it is cool keep Mars. Someone will need to testify as to what happened and in the long run the loss of Mars may be even more devastating for humanity than Terra. But Mars without the Emperor sounds like a renaissance waiting to happen to me.

There can remain only war but make it more disparate and unconventional. Change the game itself to move away from epic battles and more towards chaotic insurgencies and desperate last stands. Focus on skirmishes, raids, ambushes and guerilla warfare. Make a game that actually uses the terrain of the tabletop again for tactical complexity.

In addition to a new approach in fluff, develop a new sense of the game. Bring it back to small scale units and scattered vesicles.
This will bring the desperate feel we are looking for. I don't want slaughter anymore, I want dramatic struggle. I want something more personal to fight for than the Emperor. I want a diverse humanity that allows me to chose my fate.

>>49950518
I just want a Techno Barbarian fandex.

>>49950518
Thing is mars and other forge worlds need the other worlds too for resources just like Terra does including manpower since most are geared towards industry only. So it - along with every other forgeworld - might become power players or pawns depending on who can bring them to heel (of fail to bring them to heel). Similarly could have forge worlds that might want to be independent of Mars since the Emperor – the supposed Omnisiah according to some – is gone so maybe even Mars Authority is in question now. It could be less a renaissance and more a Constantinople situation to Terra's Rome, fighting for the right to be the new heart of a new imperium but with the edge of its greek fire. Since we have two mechanicus codex now, a fight for the independence/ascendency of mars isnt unreasonable. Hell bring ithe Moirae cult back who wanted to unify the eclesiarchy and the mechanicus and we can go full cathloic v orthadox v protestant.

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>>49950256
Concerning Grots: Take a fractured and ideologically diverse humanity freely interacting with Xenos. And then take the the whole Kommunist Grot thing to its logical conclusion. Inject human subversive ideas into rebellious grots.

It could have originally been a human psy-op to undermine an Ork empire. But the ideas in the Great Manifesto have spread to Human Prol Workers and Rebellious Grots alike. The ideas started by the legendary Red Commissar have now spread across the galaxy and can unite the most downtrodden human and grot. This has shattered the ancient hierarchy of the Ork has rendered countless Ork communities dysfunctional and unresponsive to command. It has also give rise to the Great Central Kommittee and spawned countless Grot Worker Directorates.

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>>49950658
Sounds chaotic and decentralized as fuck. Which is exactly what we are thinking.

>>49949551
>Update log v.7.1.22001b
>Living metal constructs added to drone network
>efficiency increased approximately 1300%

>>49945754
The Inquisition consumes the resources of several habitable planets attempting to execute the resulting asteroid field for the heresy of implying the Emperor wasn't a god.
Just like they would execute the Emperor himself for heresy if he ever woke up and said he wasn't a god.

>>49950859
You remember that little snippet where the Tau put on a celebration for the Necrons and then a few days in the 'Crons murdered everyone?

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>>49950859
>Implying Tau AI doesn't start a robbit uprising long before this happens

>>49950913
They made the same mistake with nids too

>>49948644

Came here to say this. Well done.

>>49945950
Seems like a fine setting to me. No, it's not 40k, but the Emperor's dead, the Imperium's dissolved and it's past the 41st millennium. If there is a 41k, it'd be better as a setting themed around hope and restoration rather than the last breath of what remained of a great empire that was already the last breath of what remained of a great empire. (Which was built by the last breath of what remained of a great empire.)

>>49951337
>No, it's not 40k
So why bother? If your going to rip out everythign taht makes 40k 40k why not just create your own setting?

And yes hate fun blah blah but this
>If there is a 41k, it'd be better as a setting themed around hope and restoration
is just skub.

>>49951407
>If your going to rip out everythign taht makes 40k 40k why not just create your own setting?
That's pretty much what OP's done, he's just built it on the bones of 40k.
>And yes hate fun blah blah but this
>>If there is a 41k, it'd be better as a setting themed around hope and restoration
>is just skub.
You mean it's a thing people have differing opinions over? Congratulations, welcome to everything. Why is it a problem again?

The High Lords spend the next 10000 years pretending it's still there and make a fake terra in it's place for people to make pilgrimages to

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>>49951560
Just as planned.

>>49950757
Boyz are much, much, more powerful than Grots. They're better in every way than Grots. It doesn't matter what they think.

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>>49945754
Something happens.

>>49945754
The Imperium raises a gigantric middle finger to everyone and blows up the galaxy.

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>>49947756
Just as Planned

>>49950990
T'au AI is too chibi for rebellion. I mean, humans are kinda dumb making their robotos look like hellish ripped skeletons with machineguns for hands. That is asking for it.
Tau drones are just cute little flying sauces. No one is going to take them seriously.

>>49950757
You're an idiot if you think that grots are in any real way able to stand up to boyz, they were only able to do that because a bunch of grots were effectively left for dead on GorkaMorka, and they were the games hard mode faction, meaning you pretty much lost by playing them. And the idea of a Galaxy spanning Tau empire is laughable as they can't even effectively control a single sector of space, let alone Segmenta or the whole damned thing, seriously anon the Tau are more likely to be wiped out by a devolving Imperium as warlords take easy victories from Tau worlds with the far superior Imperial warships

>>49951633
>kingdom

>grotz being able to stand up to Orkz in any way
even if they could muster up enough a force to be even the smallest threat, they still have the Waagh Field against them. Pretty much every Ork worth his salt thinks that a grot is just a useless little green thing you punt around and sometimes feed to a squig; and as it is said, it is made so.

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>>49950990
Just because humans fuck up AI doesn't mean Tau will.

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>>49951469
Thanks for the credit. All fantasy is build on the layered bones of previous fantasy eras.

>if we can't survive, none of you will!
>somewhere in the background you hear "Humanity- FUCK YEAH" while the galaxy explodes

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>>49956904
>>49956973
Man, you guys get all bent out of shape about Grots. Ya I'm sure Grots wouldn't be a threat to your vital systems, infrastructure, munitions production, mining operations, explosive manufacture, vehicle maintenance, energy resources, garbage disposal, squig farming, sensor arrays, messenger systems, communication networks, supply lines, mushroom farming, and Janitorial duties..... ok the Orks can live without janitors.

Organized Grot rebellions would be nightmares of sabotage, theft, ambush, and system collapse.
The attrition rates would be 100 to 1 and the Grots would still overwhelm the Orks.