Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-25618639-20141119150740/@comment-24944355-20141209000705

your forgetting that the ecclesiarchy & high lord have little actual power, they're figure heads in this time, the real power lies with the inquisition. Both the high lords & the ecclesiarchy are utterly corrupt & the inquisition like them that way, it makes it easier to control them. The inquisition is the secret police who monitors everyone & can condemn anyone, no matter how highly placed, at a whim. But the inquisition has no one monitoring them as they monitor themselves & in all cases when a group is tasked with monitoring itself then that group can do no wrong.

Any attempt at reforming the empire would have to start with reforming the inquisition to make them accountable & the inquisition have for to long seen themselves as the Emperors will made manifest. They have fallen victim to the same hubris that helped lead the traitor legions into rebellion - that ruling the empire as they see fit is their right.

Any of the surviving primarchs would see that reform is essential for the empire to survive long term & would take steps to enact those reforms. Equally the inquisition would see any attempt at reform as an attack on their power & right to rule & would immediately set themselves to bringing down the primarch. The resulting confrontation would escalate into civil war, the primarch would have most of the astartes, a large chunk of the navy & imperial guard & some of the battles sisters (not all sisters blindly follow the inquisitions dictates a fair number chafe at their control). The inquisition would have some astartes & the bulk of the navy & imperial guard & the majority of the battle sisters. The ecclesiarches & high lords will just do whatever the inquisition tells them to do while the mechanicum is the joker in the deck as they are the only other group aside from the astartes that the inquisition do not control. The mechanicum are conservative & dislike change but also dislike & don't trust the inquisition so what they choose to do in the end is uncertain.

The primarchs forces would be out numbered even considering the multiplying effect of the astartes but the inquisition make terrible generals & they would continuously interfere in the military decisions of their generals, usually disasterously, because they can & always think they know best. Also not all inquisitors would support the inquisition there would be a small minority that can see the need for reform who would choose to support the primarch. Also as is usually the case in these circumstances the rebellious inquisitors would be among the most capable. In the end a conflict between the inquisition and ONE primarch would be tight but if several returning primarchs acted together in concert the inquisitions forces would go down badly.