Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-25618639-20141119150740/@comment-25895989-20141222135146

in the Unremembered Empire, a warsmith working for Roboute enabled an ancient piece of xenotech that worked just as the Astronomican, but much, much more powerfully, if at short range. It was further dsicovered that you could both communicate and move matter through it, and it worked as a clear clarion beacon for many disparate systems, some of which outside the realms of ultramar (meaning it was VERY bright and the signal went a VERY long way, if not nearly that of Terra).

The idea that some system of beacons could be rigged up makes a lot of logical sense. As the 50k ultra-dark fiction shows, a loss of the beacon ends the Imperium and causes the loss of the game's number one army, Marines. The level of technology and ocmmunication is such that they are already missing 50-75% of their capabilities. The Emperor's death and loss of Terra/Mars would cost them intolerably. They would cease to be able to field an army, beyond skirmish level.

I rather like the idea of the Emperor joining the pantheon as the Chaos entity of Order, if you will. I think it makes for a really juicy contrast. Essentially the only difference between the Ultramarines and the Black Legion is the name of the Chaos entity they follow. I like that, and it really suits the grimdark theme. It might even lead to a full fracture of the human realms and create a SECOND imperium, the non-Chaos imperium.. led by.. Leman Russ and the Inquisition, or somesuch. Fitting to have the raveners & executioners lead the only "good" aligned faction in the galaxy.