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So as we all know the primarchs were created to lead humans to a pint of conquering the galaxyx either killing all other Xenos or impressing them, but probably killing them.

And they were doing pretty well until Horus turned heel.

Now we have guilliman and the lion, how many more primarchs need to come back before the imperium has a feasible shot of taking over the whole galaxy (this ruining the setting).

I’d argue that humanity is starting from a better place, lots of connected worlds making up a huge galactic scale war machine.

Yes there are demon primarchs but they aren’t part of an organised war effort. Although the Necrons and the Nids present a new challenge

It’s not just the Primarchs, but the forces they lead, and the unique devotion they instilled (possibly on a genetic level) in those forces.

We know there were originally 20. Well. 21 I guess. But we also know the Primarch Project wasn’t completely complete when they were abducted.

That means we can’t say for certain that had the abduction not occurred, The Emperor wouldn’t or couldn’t have made more. So we’ve no idea how many were originally planned.

The Great Crusade also didn’t have to overly worry about The Eldar, as it was The Fall that allowed it to go ahead, so a major galactic power was too busy licking its wound.

The Triumph at Ullanor was another major milestone, as it appears to have thoroughly broken the back of greenskin activity.

In the modern day? The true threat to The Imperium comes from within. It’s own bureaucracy and politicking, with Chaos and Genestealer Cults in the mix. So unlike during the height of The Great Crusade, The Imperium has to spend significant time policing itself.

Tyranids are also a mind bendingly huge threat. More so than any other foe, even a single victory for a sliver of a splinter of a previously “defeated” Hive Fleet can cause a major headache, as it rapidly breeds more warrior and ship forms

One can also argue that without the resources of a Legion at their sole command, the potential of any Primarch is stymied. Yes other chapters would be inclined to follow the leader, but they’re not obliged to.

Simply put, a Primarch leading 1,000 Marines is going to achieve less than a Primarch leading 20,000 Marines. And most Primarchs lead a Legion far larger in size, albeit typically split up amongst different fleets.

They also lead the other forces at pre-Heresy Imperium disposal. Modern day, they do not.

So it’s a very different situation in the modern day.

It never again stands a chance because its far too divided.
Humanity in the Crusade wasn't doing well because of the Primarchs but because of the belief of Imperial Unity and because the Long Night was more horrific than anything seen in the ten thousand years since, worlds were a lot more desperate to join this new Imperium.

I think we’ve seen for certain that a primarch would lead more than 1k marine chapter. Most of the founding chapters have always had more than 1k marines and have who know how many successors to call in. And the primaris coming along totally broke the mould anyway.

The divided imperium is a good point, maybe the first step would be to re-conquer the imperium and put would faction leaders to the sword.

Again, not possible.

The Ecclesiarchy doesn't just fall apart because some priests get the axe. Religion isn't a concept that can be eradicated overnight especially considering the hold it has over almost every facet of Imperial life.

The Inquisition isn't going to sit back and let a bunch of relics disband the massive power base it has accumulated over the centuries.

Hell there's already been an insurrection backed by High Lords who were removed by Guilliman.

There is no saving the Imperium. At best humanity slips into another Dark Age and at worst (or best) it dies.

One could even argue the Inquisitions job became even more important now a pair of Serious Figureheads have re-emerged.

Not against the Primarchs themselves as such. But being wary of Cults dedicated to those Primarchs cropping up. Because it would be a nice cover, wouldn’t it?


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In fact it speaks volumes to Guilliman’s character that he’s not simply dissolved the High Lords of Terra, or the Ecclesiarchy, but however begrudgingly accepted that would be incredibly counter productive.

He’s Lord Regent, yes. But that’s a title bestowed (again, however begrudgingly) and accepted.

This may be to do with his wee chat with Dad. Now I’m not up on the modern BL books, but one can imagine The Emperor counselling “look dude, you and your brothers were only ever tools. A means to an end. Your duty is to serve The Imperium, not rule it”. Or something broadly similar.

There is only so much a handfull of superhumans can do on a galactic scale.

1k marines, 10k marines, even 100k marines, it still is a very small number to the millions of worlds in the IoM and to the billions of xeno planets in the galaxy.

In many ways, the Great Crusade only almost worked because it was a fundamentally different galaxy (plenty of independent human worlds that were easy to bully into submission, Necrons still sleeping, Tyranids not yet around, etc).

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
One could even argue the Inquisitions job became even more important now a pair of Serious Figureheads have re-emerged.

Not against the Primarchs themselves as such. But being wary of Cults dedicated to those Primarchs cropping up. Because it would be a nice cover, wouldn’t it?


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In fact it speaks volumes to Guilliman’s character that he’s not simply dissolved the High Lords of Terra, or the Ecclesiarchy, but however begrudgingly accepted that would be incredibly counter productive.

He’s Lord Regent, yes. But that’s a title bestowed (again, however begrudgingly) and accepted.

This may be to do with his wee chat with Dad. Now I’m not up on the modern BL books, but one can imagine The Emperor counselling “look dude, you and your brothers were only ever tools. A means to an end. Your duty is to serve The Imperium, not rule it”. Or something broadly similar.

Yes he has accepted the usefulness religion etc but he can’t have also accepted the status quo, that there is not a brighter future for humanity in the long term. He’s a statesman, an empire builder. The lion is a great warrior and military leader. If Sanguinius were back to be the messiah huge parts of the imperium would swoon.

 Tyran wrote:
There is only so much a handfull of superhumans can do on a galactic scale.

1k marines, 10k marines, even 100k marines, it still is a very small number to the millions of worlds in the IoM and to the billions of xeno planets in the galaxy.

In many ways, the Great Crusade only almost worked because it was a fundamentally different galaxy (plenty of independent human worlds that were easy to bully into submission, Necrons still sleeping, Tyranids not yet around, etc).

I think it worked because it combined the various 40K tropes into a single unified whole. Because the Great Crusade wasn’t Marines as we know them right now. Their numbers were far larger. And they kicked about with forces like the Solar Auxilia down to “here Dave, I’ve sharpened your stick for you!” regressed human forces.

No negotiating a ride. No having to liaise with other wings. It was, if nothing else, a neater Pyramid. And one which gave greater leeway to a given force’s First In Command.

The Imperium as it stands works best when you have the Imperial Guard to do the heavy work, and Marines to take the head off the beast. As best as I know? That was, by design, every Crusade fleet, by and large. Certainly at their height, you’re talking every such fleet having Marines of at least modern Chapter strength. Let the Mere Humans hold the line, and the Astartes will descend with grreeeeeeeat vengeance and furrrrrious anger upon the enemy command structure, ripping it out root and stem.

Right now? As things stand? Such things can be arranged. But unlike the Crusade? It takes time. And you might have to make do with a relative handful of Astartes.


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mrFickle wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
One could even argue the Inquisitions job became even more important now a pair of Serious Figureheads have re-emerged.

Not against the Primarchs themselves as such. But being wary of Cults dedicated to those Primarchs cropping up. Because it would be a nice cover, wouldn’t it?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In fact it speaks volumes to Guilliman’s character that he’s not simply dissolved the High Lords of Terra, or the Ecclesiarchy, but however begrudgingly accepted that would be incredibly counter productive.

He’s Lord Regent, yes. But that’s a title bestowed (again, however begrudgingly) and accepted.

This may be to do with his wee chat with Dad. Now I’m not up on the modern BL books, but one can imagine The Emperor counselling “look dude, you and your brothers were only ever tools. A means to an end. Your duty is to serve The Imperium, not rule it”. Or something broadly similar.

Yes he has accepted the usefulness religion etc but he can’t have also accepted the status quo, that there is not a brighter future for humanity in the long term. He’s a statesman, an empire builder. The lion is a great warrior and military leader. If Sanguinius were back to be the messiah huge parts of the imperium would swoon.

Even so? To put any Primarch, let alone multiple Primarchs, in charge of the day to day running of The Imperium is a staggering waste of their potential. One could even argue the Imperium is now so vast and far flung, they’d spend more time absorbing information than actually doing something with it.

For all intents and purposes Guilliman has accepted a form of status quo.
It isn't the old order of things but it isn't a bright future because that can never be.
Guilliman accepts the Ecclesiarchy as a necessary evil that he cannot get rid of because of ten thousand years of oppression and indoctrination.
Every fire he puts out two more pop up. Even with the Lion returned, Guilliman can't win.
He can't beat the political systems, can't reform the organisations because he can't beat the political systems, and can't lead the Imperium's armies to a total victory because he can't reform the organisations to allow for that.

I think people are forgetting one very important, nay vital point that was key to the Emperor's crusade.

The fall of the eldar.

The eldar had a galaxy spanning empire that evidently kept everything else at bay for them to spend all their time orgying a god into being. Perhaps automata armies just endlessly culling orks everywhere.

Whatever the case, the emperor timed his crusade to move after the fall occurred, precisely because there would be a massive metaphorical and physical power vacuum that would be filled by something.

The galaxy had its last masters disappear instantly and their 'taming' of it would only last so long before everything expanded out again.


If the crusade had occurred while the eldar empire existed, or just when all the other aliens had enough time to build their own empires in the corpse of that empire, it would have been hard if not impossible.


You don't really think a single star system provides enough soldiers, super or not to conquer large chunks of the galaxy? They left Sol with an army intent on taking more planets to recruit from to expand their army. But if those planets didn't exist, they wouldn't have gotten far.

I don't think it's just the Loyal primarchs, but what they've done and what a certain mustache-twirling-villain mollusk loves: Change! Belasarius Cawl got to make his Primarus marines and got Roboute's seal of approval AND has blatantly ignored tenets of the Ad mech in favor of actually inventing and progress. Examples:
"Cawl, you didn't use Traitor Primarch DNA in the Primarus marines, did you?"
"Of course not!"
"... Then why does Alpha Primarus have black eyes like Corvus, the Psyker ability of Magnus, the strength of Angron, and the forethought of Perturabo?"
"... Reasons!"
"And Cawl Jr is not an AI, right? That would be Tech Heresy!"
"Course he's not! Right Cawl Jr?"
"Nope, I'm not."
"See? The AI said he's not and who are you going to trust, me or the AI?!"

But, there is a LOT that hasn't changed- any/ all of the loyal primarchs have yet to come forth and tell everyone to STOP worshipping the Emperor as a God. Robute knows the massive problems this would cause and it seem Johnson is more of the wandering knight than any kind to dictate policy of state, except by the sword. It seems they're falling back into their roles during Imperium Secundus- but unless we get a Sanguinor model, it seems very unlikely the beautiful blonde hawk-boy will become "Emperor" again.
One thing Guilliman DID do that I approve of is to kick out the high lords and clean house a bit- and now promotes on merit vs. heredity.

The more primarchs returns, the more unstable the imperium will become; without the direct guidance of the Emperor, the legion was already on the verge of breaking apart in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy. It was personal loyalty/fealty/obedience/fear towards the big E that bounded the crusade together, and without him, these highly different and individualistic super humans will never see eye-to-eye.

Sooner or later, something will happen to drive a wedge between the returned Primarchs. If not a personal tragedy of sorts, than something else the Chaos Gods will try to do. Guilleman, if the writers still try, can be tempted with promise of the power to end the endless struggle after repeated setbacks; the Lion may become twisted by lost honour; Dorn might be driven mad by his failure to protect the Emperor and his difference with Guilleman; Russ by finally succumbing/giving in to the degeneracy of the Wulfen; I feel the Khan had always been a bit of a wildcard so who knows what he's been doing within the Webway for millenia (or would that just be hours to him, who knows?) -- perhaps his opinions on the Emperor had changed, perhaps he was confronted by Magnus in a breached section of the webway, etc.; Corax has always been an emo feth.

Perhaps even Vulkan can be turned, for it is the greatest of tragedies for the most pure to fall to temptations -- and such is most alluring to the Chaos Gods. But even without turning to Chaos, each Primarch is more than likely to turn on each other over selfishness and personal enimity, or simply considering themselves a better candidate than Guilleman to combat the darkness.

All these will, of course, be balanced by the fact that none of the Daemon Primarchs are truly aligned either; a broken Imperium can be saved by an even more disunited Chaos forces. But certainly, the Imperium as we know it, will be no more.

Wasn’t there 1000s of years between the fall of the eldar/birth of slaneesh and the galactic crusade? This was the age of darkness when the worlds of humans were cut off from one another by warp storms?

Each primarch could muster legions of loyal humans to their banner, especially since imperium was torn in half. If humans can be turned from the emperor to chaos they can be change their focus from God to the Son Of God. The ecclesiarchy can split as senior members grab for power, the cult of the lion, the apostles of vulkan.

We’ve seen examples of people trying these things in the last 10k years without primarchs hanging around.

Nope. The lead up to Slaanesh’s birth created warp storms, which contributed to the overall troubles of pre-Crusade humanity.

But, it was Slaanesh’s birth that cleared them out, enabling the Great Crusade to be launched.

The warp storms ended after the Unification of Terra.

Indeed, The Emperor started his great works because he knew, through whatever means, the Warp Storms were about to end as one, and so he needed Terra and the Sol System to be unified and ready to go.

As others have said, that was a truly unique window of opportunity. To be on not a war footing, but an Expansionist, Imperialist footing. To be sailing and far and wide whilst others figured now might be a good time to build a boat.

But to bring it back to OP’s question? Primarchs are, essentially, force multipliers. Military minds in bodies more than capable of leading from the front and personally defeating more or less any other being in the Galaxy in a one-on-one scrap.

It’s arguable the returned Primarchs may attract greater devotion than ever before. They started as Legends after all - but in the past 10,000 years have become Myth. Except…they do exist.

But unless they can command the resources they once did, without challenge? Their impact will always be stymied.

For instance. Absolute hypothetical. Both The Lion and Guilliman are able to assemble Legion Strength Primaris forces, and enough warships to form Crusade Strength battle fleets. Take those, and drive them right down Abaddon’s throat.

Crazy powerful as Abaddon and his inner circle are? Two Primarchs and a few hundred thousand Astartes in several hundred warships? And it’s pretty much curtains for the Despoiler.

Remove Abaddon though, and you splinter the Chaos effort.

On the upside, there’ll likely be a near Orky power struggle within Chaos. And there’s currently nobody else really poised to take over any significant chunk.

On the downside? Yeah Chaos reverts to its true nature, and spreads utter anarchy. With no central command, it becomes harder and harder to spot a pattern and move to counter. So you wind up with untold numbers of post-human psychopaths having a whale of a time ransacking The Imperium.

Sure, the majority of the splintered Warbands can be put down, and sheer attrition will see the overall force ground to dust. But not quickly. And the damage they do in the meantime would still be utterly catastrophic.

mrFickle wrote:

We’ve seen examples of people trying these things in the last 10k years without primarchs hanging around.

And what has happened every single time the Imperium has a splinter group that goes against the main power bloc?
Massive civil wars. The Age of Apostasy, the Badab War, the Nova Terra Interregnum, the Moraei Schism, the War of the False Primarch, the Macharian Heresy, the bloody Horus Heresy.
Every one of these wars was a major blow to the Imperium that laid waste to thousands of worlds and billions of lives. Even beyond a general weakening of the Imperium's fighting strength and a loss of territory these conflicts further the rot at the heart of the Imperial system.
Authoritarian governments encourage betrayal and plotting which always leads to its downfall. When you stab enough people in the back, eventually others take action or the system collapses around you.
The Imperium's death is slowed but that death is still assured. Any returned Primarch is a plaster on a gaping wound.

I kind of disagree. Partially. Ish.

Returned Primarchs could be more than a strategic and particularly sticky bandaid.

If the Imperium wasn’t a nightmare of bureaucracy.

Perhaps if not all the Primarchs had disappeared, there’d have been some credible line of succession. Someone or someones to stand in The Emperor’s stead.

Not as Absolute Dictators (especially not after the Heresy), but at least as a Figurehead with a veto.

I’ve argued before that Guilliman’s problem was his mythic status as much as his physical and mental prowess.

Any good leader needs wise council. From those unafraid to poke holes in plans. Because from such frank and honest discussions, stronger plans emerge, and greater success can be had.

Guilliman was utterly unique upon his return. And it strikes me many would be afraid to question his decisions. Or at least so awed by his presence they couldn’t fathom questioning him.

The Lion is potentially part of the solution to that. Whilst their strengths lie in different areas, they are equals in status.

But ideally, you’d need a third being of such stature. Not as constant King Maker between Guilliman and The Lion, the one always expected to take one side or the other. But a third to present further perspective, and from there they all become the tiebreaker opinion.

Problem is the Primarchs can't rule because of their status.
Even after the Heresy when Guilliman was reforming the Imperium, he knew the Primarchs couldn't be the heirs to the Emperor because of Horus Lupercal.
They were tainted by association and if they hadn't gone missing then they would have never lost that taint. Ten thousand years of mystery and mythic tales have allowed Guilliman to take the mantle of Lord Commander without the shadow of the Warmaster hanging over him.

Besides, by the end of the Heresy the Primarchs were damaged.
Russ and the Khan didn't want to rule, they wanted to fight as they had before.
Corax didn't want to get involved with his siblings.
Vulkan was concerned with his dying Legion.
Sanguinius, the only true heir to the Emperor, and Ferrus, one of Guilliman's closest friends and allies, were dead.
The Lion was arguably mad with rage and on a genocide spree.
And finally, Dorn was broken. A shell of his former self, shattered by the ruinous Siege and the sight of his father and brother dead by Lupercal's hand.
The Primarchs couldn't have saved the Imperium.

It’s precisely because none wanted to rule.

But, to serve as Figurehead and to carry a veto would be enough.

Consider how government works in the UK. The monarch (so currently King Charles) is the Head of State, but holds no real power thanks to historical gubbins.

The Prime Minister is elected every few years.

But, policy is suggested and the fine details submitted by Civil Servants, at the behest of Parliament.

Now, let’s immediately leave that example just as an example because his is Dakka.

But, imagine an Imperium along similar lines, but giving the Primarch/s as Head/s of State some kind of veto for Obviously Really Bad Ideas.

Council could’ve been had. Mutual guidance and some form of detente reached.

Maybe somewhat off topic, but here it goes:
While the primarchs are "Demigods" they are in fact, really rare: 2 confirmed dead, 8 Daemon Princes (I'm still iffy on Peter Turbo, though), and the two that are ??? for.. Reasons. As much as it'd be cool to have a Dynasty_warrior like fight where the lion or Guilliman take on whole armies single handily, they can't be everywhere at once.
Hence, the need for real Human heroes like Yarrick, Sly Marbo, Col. Schaffer, Solar Macharius, and yes, even Chaiphas Cain. I especially like Yarrick (Not just because I'm firmly in the Orky camp) but because he was one old man, but he developed a legend that struck fear into the hearts of Orks. He may have not consciously have been exploiting the whole ork Waaagh powers of "we think therefore it is", but he did the right things to earn respect and fear from almost an entire race in 40k- like having the eye lazer put in, using the power Klaw, and riding in a freaking Baneblade!
And not to mention the more undercover heroes of the Imperium, like the actual objective and sane Inquisitors, like Ravenor and Eisenhorn have also helped multiple times.
IMHO, 40k is about extremes of one side or another and you don't have to be the Emperor's gene-spawn to be the best of humanity, and you don't have to be posessed by Chaos/ Genestealers/ insert unspeakable horrors here to be the worst of humanity's scum. But, with the whole grimdark setting it seems more people want to fall into the latter than the former.

Except like Roboute the last 2 UK Prime ministers weren't elected.

I think the primarchs offer something unique in terms of military genius and prowess. Look at the indomitus fussed, galaxy torn in half, the warp is not navigable but guilliman manages to deliver reinforcements across the entire galaxy even to the half cut off from the astronomicon.

Now the lion seems to appear out of no where and liberate imperial worlds and is bringing half the of the fallen back into the fold.

Every primarch seems to bring exponential improvements to the imperial war effort.

If you had Corvus leading the raven guard on trargeted missions and the sheer night of the space wolves led by Russ I don’t think the rest of the galaxy would stand much of a chance unless all the necrons wake up or the nids develop more of a foot hood in the galaxy.

As someone else said non of the primarchs except maybe RG want to rule. Any other primarchs would just go off on their own rampage of revenge.

mrFickle wrote:
I don’t think the rest of the galaxy would stand much of a chance unless all the necrons wake up or the nids develop more of a foot hood in the galaxy.

Both of these things are happening already.

And you seem to be missing the point where the Emperor and the Primarchs conquered the galaxy with Legions of Astartes alongside the unified mass of humanity from the humble Imperial Army to the mighty Mechanicum.

Every single armed force and institution from the Great Crusade is a shadow of it's former self. The Legiones Astartes are gone, even with new Primaris Chapters the Space Marines can never again regain the strength they once had. The Mechanicum is gone, replaced with the far more dogmatic and distrustful Adeptus Mechanicus. The Imperial Army was split into the Navy and Militarum specifically to weaken the capabilities of baseline human warlords. The Knight Houses are decimated with few able to field suits such as the Cerastus or Acastus that were once commonplace. The indomitable Collegia Titanica is a poor shadow of it's former might, with entire Legios consigned to the grave at cataclysmic battles like Beta Garmon and Terra.

The Primarch's returning would stem the tide but could never turn it because the Imperium isn't fighting from a position of strength and never again will.


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 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
It’s precisely because none wanted to rule.

But, to serve as Figurehead and to carry a veto would be enough.

That would leave the Imperium ruled by the Astartes something both the mortal rulers and more importantly, the Custodes, would not stand for. The only reason Koorland and Maximus Thane were able to "rule" the Imperium during the War of the Beast was because they had the backing of select High Lords and the others were either dead or disgraced.

Even with that both Astartes knew that they could never maintain the position under Astartes command. Distrust would grow of the nigh immortal and invincible rulers and eventually humanity would turn on them, if the Custodes didn't kill them first that is.

The Primarch's were legends at the end of the Heresy but every was very aware that half of their number had literally just rebelled, starting the worst war in recent memory, killing four of their number, and laying low the Emperor and Malcador.
Even if Guilliman or Dorn had been chosen to rule, they couldn't have done it when the High Lords and their father's closest companions distrusted them or wanted them gone.

Another thing to consider is timescale. For the Imperium to turn around would likely take thousands of years at this point.

It's not just a logistical phase of shifting gear on millions of worlds; but the effect of changing attitudes; eroding at the powerbase of long-lived rulers and religious figureheads who either have to be swayed, bribed or replaced. The political game alone to make a stable transition could take thousands of years.

The structural one is similarly a big change - the Great Crusade didn't fear new technology or innovation - whilst in the 40K setting science is almost an alien concept as we'd understand it and the concept of machines is as much religion as it is dogma. So innovation and free innovation are curtailed. Again its going to take a lot to change that and then spread that change through the multitude of worlds to allow science to flourish to provide innovation and new weapons or at least re-discover what has been lost.


I have been holding out a small candle of hope that at some point we see some massive divide in the Imperium. Something that shatters it down to the core in a way that allows humanity to remain the dominant force, but which results in huge areas being destabilized enough to allow other Xenos to rise up. Just to give 40K some creative freedom that isn't trapped in the dogma of established factions or subfactions of those forces.


Guilliman has to play the very long game and that means we likely won't see it play out unless GW can find a way to market 40K so that its still 40K but enters the 42nd millennium and beyond. They've already kind of backed themselves into a corner with the 41st and had to backpedel 100 years from the main story to give themsleves room.

It's a downside to making the main narrative focus on the grand-national scale with essentially immortal key players. Even if they don't move the overall Galactic power base and relative situations; just telling the story quickly starts to run you out of time.

 Overread wrote:

I have been holding out a small candle of hope that at some point we see some massive divide in the Imperium. Something that shatters it down to the core in a way that allows humanity to remain the dominant force, but which results in huge areas being destabilized enough to allow other Xenos to rise up. Just to give 40K some creative freedom that isn't trapped in the dogma of established factions or subfactions of those forces.

That's what Imperium Nihilus is or I think was meant to be. The Imperium is less monolithic, sectors or worlds are isolated and have to fend for themselves. This power vacuum allows other factions to move in, and other independent human factions to rise up. Individual human warlords or councils will IMO inevitably rise to power trying to restore order and keep the lights on. This I think justifies "Imperial on Imperial" fights as they fight each other for resources, territory, and in the name of the now distant Imperium. Multiple sides can all claim to be Imperial making for potentially more complex stories rather than just baseline human vs the spiky mutated cultists (either Chaos or Genestealer).

Yeah, they go into that in Spear of the Emperor. A lot of decision makers want to just give up Nihilus, because the Rift is such an intractable strategic problem.

There's some logic in that - sacrifice half your Empire knowing that even in doing so that half will continue to function for a good long while. Then focus on the half you've got to double down; improve defences and perhaps get to a point where you can actually start dealing with problems.

Right now the Imperium is stretched so thin that they react to issues, but they can't really solve any. Everything is a patch over a patch over a patch that's just holding the dam from bursting for another day. Let half the water flood out and then they might get to fixing it.

The Imperium has been in that stretched state long before Abaddon’s shenanigans.

One on one? The Imperium has the numbers, techbase and organisation to deal with any given problem.

Except….their foes aren’t exactly taking turns. Sure, one foe will Problem of the Century, and receive a particularly focussed countering. But all the while the others are pressing in all the same.

To me the biggest threat of it being split is the inherent disruption to trade and supply routes. Yes what remains can be reworked and redistributed? But that takes time.

I’m very interested to see The Lion’s impact on Imperium Nihilus. He’s a crusader born and bred, and will have little to no trouble treading that old ground.

But, is he Statesman enough to properly sort out supply routes, and prioritise targets properly? I mean, as a Primarch he should have the knowledge and that to do so. But is it in his nature? Time will tell.