Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-25618639-20141119150740/@comment-6078851-20141206151844

nicely put sang.

the position of the 'high lords' is not the same now as it was at it's inception, and guilliman of all people would see just how much they contrast. he may not want to take control but he would want to at least replace those in power given that they go against what emps wanted: he did indeed want an empire ruled by humans but he didn't want the wholesale slaughter of citizens as a means of the rulers maintaining their power, as well as imperium-wide serfdom, not to mention the fact that emps wanted a secular empire and yet it's imperial law to worship emps as a god - you can't get much further from emps' vision.

the ecclesiarchy would most likely be targeted for immediate disolution by any returning primarchs. but as the ecclesiarchy is such a widespread institution firmly rooted in every aspect of the imperium, it means that such a desire would recieve immediate, and violent, imperium-wide opposition - people get very upset if their beliefs are questioned.

i think the fabricator-general of mars is a high lord, so that raises the possibility of the mechanicus siding with the high lords, inquisition and ecclesiarchy. it could also mean that the high lords may be persuaded to side with the returning primarchs given that the astartes and mechanicus have close ties. i seriously doubt they would side with any primarch that would disolve the ecclesiarchy though since the mechanicum also believe in emps' godhood, and as such a civil war of primarch-led astartes would be against the high lords, ecclesiarchy, inquisition, mechanicum, and everyone those bodies have control over. wow, that's not an enviable position and i would have to say almost certainly an un-winable position :P

i'm starting to think that the approaching 'end-times' plot advancement is going to start with a second civil war.