/r/WarhammerWhatIf

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A place for all of your "What if?" posts related to Warhammer (both kinds)

/r/WarhammerWhatIf

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1

Ogryn 2.0

What if Belisarius Cawl or Fabius Bile turned their attentions to improving the Ogryn?

0 Comments
2024/02/17
16:31 UTC

9

Would the 40K Universe Accept a Vampiric Faction? Envisioning the Grimdark Potential

Greetings, fellow Warhammer 40K enthusiasts!

I've been toying with an idea that I believe could add an intriguing layer to our beloved grimdark universe: Vampirism, a curse (or perhaps a twisted blessing?) crafted by the joint will of the Chaos gods.

Imagine a vampiric disease, a perfect storm of the gods' desires:

  • Khorne revels in the violence and bloodshed the infected bring.
  • Nurgle watches with glee as the cycle of death and undeath unfolds, an eternal loop of decay.
  • Slaanesh finds pleasure in their unending hunger, a lust for blood never sated.
  • Tzeentch sees the vampires as pawns and players in his intricate games of change and subterfuge.

These vampires would not be your typical undead. We're talking about rotting yet undying warriors, former Space Marines from a lost chapter, now badass killing machines with a semblance of immortality. Their lower ranks would be akin to zombies, albeit with a deadly prowess, while the Vampire Lords would be something out of a horror tale, akin to attractive yet horrifying Chaos demi-gods who've ascended to daemonhood, tasked to eternally spread this blight.

The grimdark potential here is immense. Think of the narrative and aesthetic possibilities: battles where these vampiric legions, shrouded in the Warp's shadow, lay waste to entire colonies, leaving behind nothing but death and the nascent stirrings of new unlife.

Now, I turn to you, the community, to gauge your thoughts. Would you accept such a faction in the 40K universe? How would you envision their integration into the existing lore? Could their origin story of a lost Space Marine chapter work, or would you propose a different genesis for these creatures of the night?

Let's discuss the potential of darkness eternal and warfare unending, a new player on the galactic stage of Warhammer 40,000.

For the night is dark and full of terrors, but in the 41st millennium, there is only war.

Share your thoughts and let the galaxy burn with speculation!

7 Comments
2024/01/10
06:14 UTC

7

(Spoilers) What if the Primarchs never met the Emperor?

I've been getting really into the lore of Warhammer recently, trying to answer a ton of questions that came into my head about the lore. One thing I've been thinking about is what would happen to the Primarchs if they never met the Emperor?

Say something happened to him and he had to spend much longer conquering Earth and the solar system, or he even died somehow, how would these essentially demigods in charge of planets turn out?

I'm curious what everyone else's opinions would be. I guess it depends greatly on their planets tech level, and their personalities. I'm also curious how they would treat xenos without the Emperor's influence. Would any of them be friendly? What would happen if two Primarchs met, independent of the Emperor?

Please let me know if this doesn't fit the subreddit or if anything needs to be changed to not break any rules. I tried posting it in 40klore but it got removed instantly and didn't list a reason why.

Lion would probably try and lead Caliban through its own industrial revolution if possible. This probably leads to problems down the line with Luther, who lets his jealousy take over and probably doesn't approve of massively changing Caliban.

Two is impossible to answer given we know nothing about him. The only thing I can say is maybe whatever caused the Emperor and Malcador to erase nearly everything about him wouldn't happen.

Fulgrim would probably expand and start his own stellar empire, but at a much slower rate then Dorn and Guilliman. With a focus on arts his empire would probably have a golden age in terms of culture.

Perturabo likely takes over from his adoptive father Dammekos when he finally died. He'd probably finish conquering Olympia if he hadn't already. Without the Emperor to make him a general, maybe Perturabo could find some happiness creating magnificent works as he truly wanted.

On the other hand, maybe nothing he did would ever be good enough, and he would tear down the works of anyone who did better then him, like he did with his adoptive brother. Or maybe he would go out into the galaxy and conquer other worlds, though I think staying behind is more likely.

Jaghatai seemed pretty content to just keep to the life of a nomad and let the planet do whatever it wants, sometimes leading a conquest. Maybe after some time he'd go out and conqueror over planets, but I don't think he'd make an empire out of it, he'd just be doing it for his own satisfaction.

Leman I'm not too sure about. By the time the Emperor found him he was in charge of Fenris. Hes definitely the conquering type, but with Fenris basically being a pre industrial society, would he try and develop the planet, or would he keep it as it is?

Dorn has already conquered multiple star systems iirc by the time he was found. He would just continue his conquests until he either came into contact with the Emperor or another Primarch, or reached a point where his empire became to large to continue conquering. Good luck to any rival power trying to break through his defences.

Curze leaves me stumped to be honest. He had effectively taken control of Nostramo through his campaign of fear through mutilation and execution of anyone committing a crime, so what does he do as ruler?

Crime seemed to have basically stopped from what I can read on Lexicanum, because no one wanted to be his next victim. What happens to Nostramo and Curze if basically no crime happens for generations?

Sanguinius I'm also not sure about. Not because of his intentions but because Baal is essentially an irritated hell of a planet. He'd try and make a better life for his people, but I really don't know how much he could do without the Emperor.

Ferrus would continue his role as ruler over Medusa. I'm not really sure about the technology levels on the planet, but I don't think they have the ability to travel to other planets. I'm also not sure what would happen, as because he was found somewhat early in the Great Crusade, he didn't have time to really develop the planet, if he even could.

With the tribes still fighting maybe he would take the best and brightest and use them to advance Medusa, or maybe he'd be content to just keep everything as it is.

Eleven also is impossible to say anything for certain just like two. Just like two maybe whatever caused the Emperor to wipe away memory of him would be avoided.

Angron was almost certainly die, just as he wanted. Unless Khorne intervened in his rebellion he likely is killed by the slavers, unless he can somehow pull out a victory.

Guilliman just like Dorn would have no issues creating his own stellar empire. There isn't too much to say that's any different from Rogal, he'd go out, conquer, and eventually settle in to rule.

Mortarion would definitely be an interesting case. From his POV, The Emperor convinced him to go face his adoptive father before Mortarion was truly ready, then stepped in at the last minute and killed Necare, denying Mortarion his vengeance and humiliating him.

Maybe without the Emperor showing up, Mortarion still goes to challenge Necare before he's ready still (if he can even be ready to face him), and is killed, or maybe by taking more time, he's able to adapt better, improve his armour and breathing apparatus, and kill Necare. If he wins, then I think he'd set out trying to make Barbarus a better place, and improve the lives of the regular people. The how I'm not really sure of, and I doubt he would leave and conquer anywhere else.

Magnus was probably continue leading Prospero, I could be wrong but I don't think he would conquer other worlds. After some time he might travel to learn more about the universe, the warp, and anything he could get his hands on. Given that he was talking to the Emperor psychically, I think at some point he gather the best of his followers and sets out in search of knowledge, the Emperor, and his brothers.

Horus likely doesn't change, reading on his backstory on Lexicanum it seems he was either brought to Terra by Tech Priests, or travelled there himself. If he hadn't, he'd probably just be a gang lord, maybe taking over Cthonia, starting with its underworld.

After uniting Colchis, Lorgar would maybe try to advance Colchis technologically if possible, but given the planet as already dominated by Chaos, I think it depends on them. Maybe the gods help Lorgar in secret and set him on the path he took in canon, or maybe they prevent him from advancing Colchis at all.

By the time Vulcan was sorta in charge of Nocturne,the Emperor had arrived. So without the Emperor, he probably continues as a blacksmith, influence continuing to build any time the Dark Eldar come to raid and get beaten back.

From here there's a few paths that history could take. Maybe one day he loses to the Dark Eldar, and is captured and enslaved, or he continues as a blacksmith besting back raids everytime they come, or being a master blacksmith and with the knowledge that comes from being a Primarch, maybe he's able to do something with left over Dark Eldar tech, and after some time, heading to the stars.

Without the Emperor I don't see Vulcan as a conquer, as he seemed content being a blacksmith until the Dark Eldar raids just kept coming. But like he did on Nocturne, if he can somehow make it to the stars, maybe he could build influence with other planets by helping them defeat raids.

After overthrowing the slavers of Deliverance, Corax will probably be in a position of first among equals. What he does from here I'm not sure. Kiavahr basically relied on slave labour to get the minerals and manpower required to operate the Forge World, and Corax wouldn't bring back slavery imo.

I think Kiavahr continues to operate at a much lower level, while Corax settles in to try and create a better society for both the planet and Deliverance.

Alpharius and Omegon are a pain in the ass to figure out, like figuring out anything about the Alpha Legion. Was he secretly found by the Emperor and Malcador first while Omegon was found last? Where the twins together the whole time? I've got nothing here, I don't even know what their true origin is.

3 Comments
2023/12/13
02:21 UTC

1

What if the modern dark angels intervened during son of the forest?

So say just before they take off for saber some of the risen get a message out basically goading the dark angels to come to saber, the rock shows up just after the lion got separated from his forces.

So how do you think things would play out?

I don’t think they’d just bomb the planet since they generally take the fallen alive to repent however the bone thing in orbit I imagine they’d shoot just for the pleasure of destroying a chaos artifact, after that they would probably deploy the death wing.

Hopefully that message zabrial got from the lion would be enough to convince his little brothers to not fuck everything up.

0 Comments
2023/12/07
08:22 UTC

2

What Kairos was at Singnus Prime

What if T'zeentch sent Kairos to aid K'banna and Kyris attempt to corrupt Sanginius. Would he be able to foresee Meros pivotal role in saving his Primarch and advise the other daemons to concerate killing the otherwise unremarkable Apothecary before he could intervene.

0 Comments
2023/12/07
06:59 UTC

3

What if Megacorporation of Cyberpunk 2077 invades Warhammer 40k?

If one of the megacorporations of cyberpunk 2077 establish a succesfull colony in 40k and this colony It became independent megacorp and stayed isolated from all 40k for a wile How they Will survive? they Will thrive? And if they thrive IS possible they archive Warp travel, throught DaoT Age tech Who can help them to move throught the Warp safe at some extent?

5 Comments
2023/12/06
23:17 UTC

3

What would the imperium think of changelings from trollhunters?

In the universe of Trollhunters the animated series, trolls are magical beings made of living rock who petrify when exposed to daylight, and live in underground communities beneath the Earth.

Millennia before the 21th century, there was a war between troll-and humankind over the surface. The humans and good trolls stood victorious and banished the bad trolls who wanted to devour all of humanity, the Gumm Gumms, to the Darklands, a dark realm which was the original homeland of the trolls.

In response, the Gumm Gumms created the changelings.

Changelings are trolls who were altered so they can assume human form.

Changelings are sent to the human realm as spies, supplanting infant human babies who are known as the Changeling's Familiar. They're swapped with their human counterparts at birth and have dwelt among humans for decades, therefore anyone could be a Changeling.

In a crossover between Warhammer 40K and trollhunters, what would the Imperium feel about changelings, who are basically xenos disguised as humans?

1 Comment
2023/11/01
22:20 UTC

1

Orkz invade Mushroom Kingdom

What would happen if a bunch of Orkz invade the Mushroom Kingdom from the Super Mario series. How will the inhabitants take to being attack by the hyper violent and very silly fungoid monsters from the grimdark future.

What kind of shenanigans the Greenskinz finds themselves up to when they discover all the weird power ups and they rampage across a world despite rather peaceful is just as wacky as they are.

1 Comment
2023/10/23
01:16 UTC

2

Hexmark destroyer

After watching pariah nexus I got thinking if a deathmark can do that what can a hexmark destroyer do. So in lore how deadly are they ? And what if say a hexmark destroyer was tasked with wiping out as many night lords as possible that are on a tomb world just woken up to discover it’s covered with night lords

0 Comments
2023/10/22
21:36 UTC

9

What if the Emperor and Sigmar switched jobs for a couple of years?

2 Comments
2023/09/26
23:08 UTC

2

What if Trazyn the Infinite was playing a Gocha Game and which one would he play?

1 Comment
2023/08/30
17:34 UTC

4

What if Slaanesh became an Eldar Goddess instead of a Chaos Goddess?

While I do know that Slaanesh is also and Eldar god, I want to know if there is a fanfic about when slaanesh was born, that they didn’t eat all of the Eldar gods and instead became one of them?

1 Comment
2023/08/18
23:59 UTC

4

A planet of blanks and psykers.

In one system, the ruling family of narathos primeris have a machine that can both clone embryos and mutate them (mostly the machine just gene mixes the embryos and if needs be gives them traits drawn from pre existing human templates so it hardly needs to be creative) but it can create new traits and increasing the planets gene pool if the population has dropped enough.

It generally produces 2.3 billion new embryos a year to either be injected into fertile women or grown in pods and adopted.

However there is bug where for every ten people it creates it makes either one blank or one psyker.

Nobody is sure why this is the case but they have long since just given up on trying to fix the problem and excepted that it will just do that.

So the psykers are put in high tech tower cities on narathos sacundus and left to their own devices with the exception of when the royal family needs something.

The blanks on the other hand are left in cavern cites beneath the towers and are equally forgotten about.

That is until the imperium comes and gets a good look at this whole situation how do they react?

6 Comments
2023/08/10
11:22 UTC

2

What if sanguinius was the arch heretic with this lineup of traitor vs loyalists

Traitor:

Sanguinius, lorgar, angron, lion el'jonson, leman russ, Perturabo, Alpharius Omegon, Jaghatai, Konrad Curze

Loyalist:

Guilliman, magnus, Mortarion, horus, Rogal Dorn, fulgrim, Ferrus Manus, Vulkan, Corvus Corax

2 Comments
2023/08/07
21:33 UTC

4

Great Crusade Primarchs and Emperor reaction to the 42nd Millennium.

What if 30k versions of The Emperor, Sanginius, Ferrus Manus, a Pre-Monarchia Lorgar and uncorrupted versions of Horus, Magnus, Angron, Mortarion, Fulgrim, Perturabo, Konrad Kurze and Alpharius Omagon, in addition to their Legions' found themselves teleported to the 42 Millennium on the world of Armageddon.

What is their reaction to the state of the Galaxy and the Imperium? What is the reaction of Roboute Guilliman when learns of what just happened on Armageddon.

5 Comments
2023/07/29
15:13 UTC

4

How would the Nids adapt to the flood infection if they ever encountered each other

This is just some thing I’m wondering and I’m pretty sure the flood spreads its infection from networks

1 Comment
2023/07/27
21:32 UTC

2

Adeptus Mechanicus Invasion of Valisthea (FFXVI)

While coming through the data-vaults of Mars an archmagos made a fascinating discovery. Coordinates to an ancient human planet untouched by the endless wars of the 41st millennium, xenos and the forces of Chaos, according to info within the data-vault the planet is said to contain fascinating archeotech as well as a group of unique psykers called "Dominants".

Wasting no time, the archmagos immediately went to work to gather forces at his command to acquire these resources for the Imperium and the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Exterminatus has been deemed too risky as it would damage the archeotech, the archmagos has to invade all the countries within the world of Valisthea the old fashion way, capture all the mothercrystals all the while the Dominants and the inhabitants are trying to stop him.

The archmagos of course is not unarmed and has brought his personal Ark Mechanicus housing his armies consisting of battle servitors, Skitarii legions, as well as help from the Legio Cybernetica.

2 Comments
2023/07/22
13:54 UTC

2

What if the C’tan Won?

What if the C’tan defeated the Necrons and were never sharded/killed?

1 Comment
2023/07/16
07:19 UTC

4

Master Beef

So I finally watched that abominable Halo series Apple TV still birthed. Show quality aside though, it's got your boy shook with some crossover questions.

If Master Chief takes a wrong turn in the slip space and tumbles out the webway into the 41st Millennium, how long does he last?

From a Harlie Stan's perspective, his legendary plot armor maybe let's him tangle with base model troupe player. However this only distracts him long enough to be sashimi'ed by the solitaire.

0 Comments
2023/06/01
02:02 UTC

8

If Magnus had stayed loyal, which legion would have been corrupted by Tzeentch?

Who besides Magnus would be the best candidate for Tzeentch's servant?

1 Comment
2023/05/29
23:00 UTC

2

What would the imperium think of changelings from trollhunters?

Trollhunters is a netflix cartoon about a teenage boy named Jim Lake jr who discovers a secret realm inhabited by trolls and other magical creatures and becomes tasked with protecting the world from the dangers hidden beneath his hometown.

In Trollhunters trolls are magical creatures made of living stone who turn to stone in daylight. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/trollhunters/images/5/54/Trolls\_of\_Trollmarket.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20190611003828

Changelings are trolls who were taken at a young age and altered so they can take human form. Human infants are abducted and replaced with a changeling who takes on their appearance so they can act as spies in the human world, working towards freeing the troll warlord Gunmar who was trapped in another dimension.

Walter Strickler is one of the main antagonists of Trollhunters; he's a changeling who works under the guise of a history teacher at Jim's high school.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/trollhunters/images/e/ed/Stricklander.png/revision/latest?cb=20180619234306

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/trollhunters/images/f/fb/Recipe\_for\_Disaster-\_5-27.PNG/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20180121001759

In his human form he acts as a caring, mild-mannered school-teacher, but as a troll he is much more ruthless. He is a brilliant strategist and tactician able to plan his way out of almost any situation and manipulate events in his favor. He has wings allowing him to fly.

I want to know what the inquisition would think of changelings and how they would deal with them. Would they be considered extra heretical because they are nonhumans who take on human form? And if Walter Strickler was transported into the 40K universe, what would they think of him specifically?

Changelings are trolls who were taken at a young age and altered so they can take human form. Human infants are abducted and replaced with a changeling who takes on their appearance so they can act as spies in the human world, working towards freeing the troll warlord Gunmar who was trapped in another dimension.

Walter Strickler is one of the main antagonists of Trollhunters; he's a changeling who works under the guise of a history teacher at Jim's high school.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/trollhunters/images/e/ed/Stricklander.png/revision/latest?cb=20180619234306

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/trollhunters/images/f/fb/Recipe\_for\_Disaster-\_5-27.PNG/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20180121001759

In his human form he acts as a caring, mild-mannered school-teacher, but as a troll he is much more ruthless. He is a brilliant strategist and tactician able to plan his way out of almost any situation and manipulate events in his favor. He has wings allowing him to fly.

I want to know what the inquisition would think of changelings and how they would deal with them. Would they be considered extra heretical because they are nonhumans who take on human form? And if Walter Strickler was transported into the 40K universe, what would they think of him specifically?

0 Comments
2023/05/24
12:46 UTC

3

[How would the imperium react to the scenario]

What if Primus from transformers transformed the entire fleet of imperial warships into transformers and how would the imperium react?

1 Comment
2023/05/23
02:47 UTC

5

[Warhammer/destiny question]

(Dunno if this kinda post is allowed, but its a question I've really been wondering about it, if theres a better sub to ask about this in, then lemme know, and I'll delete this post and go there)

Assuming somehow the Imperium of man got knowledge of the remnants of humanity in the destiny universe, the Traveler and the guardians...what would they think? The traeveler is implied to be a machine of sorts, and it creates living machine constructs that ressurect people and give rhem space powers, creating immortal (sorta) peacekeepers. Guardians are human but are there powers considered magic? Which is also herasy?

Idk, I've just been thinking about this lately. Is this the wrong sub to ask this? I know not worshipping the Big E is a serious No-No

1 Comment
2023/05/22
19:00 UTC

11

What if 30k Astartes were asked to help get a kitten from a tree?

Imagine a little kid asking Astartes from different Legions to help save their kitten. What would happen? [I may use your ideas to draw the result ;) ] And yes, I'm asking before AND after corruption. ^_^

2 Comments
2023/05/22
07:56 UTC

9

Roboutian Heresy Merge

In the year of M41.991 a strange event merges the Canon universe with the Roboutian Heresy universe. How the Imperium of the two universes make sense of the confusion.

Also the Roboutian Heresy Ultramarines and their chaos corrupted Ultramar get transported into the Eye of Terror

0 Comments
2023/05/15
10:49 UTC

6

What if Leman Russ landed on Nostramo?

What if Leman Russ’s pod gets turned around and lands on Nostramo? What does his conquest and leadership look like?

Furthermore how does this affect the Space Wolves?

Is Leman Russ still loyal? And how does this affect his way of warfare during the Great Crusade?

I think Space Wolves with a penchant for sneaky violence is truly horrifying.

Is Russ still the Emperor’s Executioner except with sadism and terror tactics?

2 Comments
2023/05/11
16:23 UTC

5

What If the Skaven was an Order faction?

How different would the Fantasy and AoS setting be if the Skaven were a faction of Order instead of Chaos?

2 Comments
2023/04/23
07:30 UTC

3

What if the Omnitrix from Ben 10 was in the 40k Universe?

1 Comment
2023/04/21
22:21 UTC

6

Need help for writing

I’m in the process of writing a 40k fan fiction and I’m trying to realistically stay as lore friendly as I can. My question for you guys is that if a massive warp explosion happened in real space on the edge of the eastern fringe and a new landmass came into existence, who would most likely be the first responders to the scene. I was planning on sisters passing by but they would most likely execute the main character for having anything religious on them and space marines seem overkill.

I have other questions as well so feel free to give me your best bet on how these would function-

• Do space marines take prisoners • Can humans walk on a demon world • How do people like hive city dwellers view sisters • Would Tau shoot a human on sight • Same question above but for craftworld eldar

1 Comment
2023/03/29
18:10 UTC

9

What if Khaine won?

During the fall, an unexpected burst of energy empowers Khaine and allows them to annihilate Slaanesh. What changes,

8 Comments
2023/03/23
17:21 UTC

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