Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-25618639-20141119150740/@comment-6078851-20141208171842

yeah, it could easily play out like that although i think that's a very optimistic point of view and we all know 40k's not really all that optimistic :P

i didnjt mean to imply the primarchs would start such a civil war, they would almost certainly want to avoid it, but any attempt at reformation would have them branded as heretics and if they tried to eradicate the imperial cult/ecclesiarchy then war would be thrust upon them.

plus, the primarchs were tasked by emps, personally, with eradicating religion while no-one in the ecclesiarchy have even met a primarch let alone emps. yet they are fully convinced/deluded that they know the emperor's will, and from their point of view anyone who questions their actions is going against the will of their god - the primarchs can refute this with firsthand and personal knowledge of the emperor's will. true, the ecclesiarchy should be bowing to any returning primarchs, but when long-standing beliefs are challenged the human race continues to show a remarkable degree of arrogance and self-importance, and for loyal primarchs the ecclesiarchy is in direct contradiction to emps' will, and the ecclesiarchy will refuse to accept such even coming from the mouths of their god's sons as it would result in the destruction of their belief, and self-importance. also there wasn't a reformation-civil war after the heresy because the imperial cult was just that, a cult, and not an official, and massive, governmental body enforcing their dogma - the ecclesiarchy didn't even exist back then.

emps was smart in leaving the machine-god religion intact but patience had nothing to do with it but actually impatience: he needed the war machines of mars to wage his unification wars, but he wanted them immediately, and he knew he didn't actually have the manpower, or technological advantage, to guarantee a victory if he simply attacked mars, destroyed their religion, and took control. instead he bargained with them - he got all the war machines he wanted and they got to keep their religion.

i think a civil war is unavoidable since i feel it's more fitting to the whole grim-dark thing, but it is only my opinion. i do admit though that, while i think your [zixis] idea is overly optimistic, mine is maybe a little bleak, and maybe the actual story'll meet in the middle somewhere :P