Bone2pick
Minority of One
Alternate Lore: Word Bearers
The Emperor never ordered the Ultramarines to destroy Monarchia. Instead the Master of Mankind met face-to-face with Lorgar and demanded his son, as well as the entirety of the Word Bearer Legion, renounce their religious practice and beliefs. Lorgar vehemently argued against doing so, but eventually surrendered to the implacable will of his father.
Or so he vowed. In actuality the Primarch never lost faith. In response to the Emperor’s demands, Lorgar transformed his religion into a clandestine project. The Luna Wolves had their secret warrior lodges; the Word Bearers created a secret cult.
A cult which believed the Emperor was, in fact, a god, but a god that tragically must deny his own divinity — at least for a while. Deny it until the moment when one (or possibly more) of his sons would turn against their father. This was the new vision Lorgar received: one or more of the primarchs would take up arms against the Emperor and the Imperium.
A divine revelation further spoke to Lorgar and explained to him that if the Emperor were to acknowledge his divinity before the traitorous primarchs revealed themselves, mankind’s inevitable holy war would be pushed back into the distant future. And as a result, humanity would trudge on in a dismal existence. One without spiritual truth, without spiritual unity.
How this affects our timeline: Lorgar is proceeding down a path which, though still not perfectly in-line with the Emperor’s vision, has not turned him towards the Ruinous Powers. It’s plausible that he will remain loyal to his father and the Imperium. Then again...
Alternate Lore: Night Lords
Nostramo was never destroyed. Before reuniting with the Emperor, Konrad Curze founded a terrifying but effective law enforcement institution which has kept his homeworld largely free of violent crime, especially of the organized variety.
How this affects our timeline: Night Lords Legionaries are recruited from Nostramo’s regular civilian population as opposed to its imprisoned violent criminals. This results in Konrad having more respect and admiration for his Space Marines. And just as importantly, the Primarch isn’t burdened with the psychological trauma from having blown up the planet he was born and raised on.
The Emperor never ordered the Ultramarines to destroy Monarchia. Instead the Master of Mankind met face-to-face with Lorgar and demanded his son, as well as the entirety of the Word Bearer Legion, renounce their religious practice and beliefs. Lorgar vehemently argued against doing so, but eventually surrendered to the implacable will of his father.
Or so he vowed. In actuality the Primarch never lost faith. In response to the Emperor’s demands, Lorgar transformed his religion into a clandestine project. The Luna Wolves had their secret warrior lodges; the Word Bearers created a secret cult.
A cult which believed the Emperor was, in fact, a god, but a god that tragically must deny his own divinity — at least for a while. Deny it until the moment when one (or possibly more) of his sons would turn against their father. This was the new vision Lorgar received: one or more of the primarchs would take up arms against the Emperor and the Imperium.
A divine revelation further spoke to Lorgar and explained to him that if the Emperor were to acknowledge his divinity before the traitorous primarchs revealed themselves, mankind’s inevitable holy war would be pushed back into the distant future. And as a result, humanity would trudge on in a dismal existence. One without spiritual truth, without spiritual unity.
How this affects our timeline: Lorgar is proceeding down a path which, though still not perfectly in-line with the Emperor’s vision, has not turned him towards the Ruinous Powers. It’s plausible that he will remain loyal to his father and the Imperium. Then again...
Alternate Lore: Night Lords
Nostramo was never destroyed. Before reuniting with the Emperor, Konrad Curze founded a terrifying but effective law enforcement institution which has kept his homeworld largely free of violent crime, especially of the organized variety.
How this affects our timeline: Night Lords Legionaries are recruited from Nostramo’s regular civilian population as opposed to its imprisoned violent criminals. This results in Konrad having more respect and admiration for his Space Marines. And just as importantly, the Primarch isn’t burdened with the psychological trauma from having blown up the planet he was born and raised on.
