Subject: Assuming they see them coming?
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Posted on: 2017-10-26 10:17:00 UTC

I think it's not unreasonable to say that the first few bolts striking from a direction they had no idea even existed would be devastating. A few worlds get blasted out of existence without their rulers having time to react. Then they get wise, and start claiming the energy. It's all swings and roundabouts.

So whose domain is affected here? I know Slaanesh caused the Eye's creation - would it be reasonable to assume that its creatures would be initially weakened, then strengthened by the attack? I get the feeling that upsetting the balance of power in the Warp probably comes under the heading of a Bad Thing...

So, assuming Slaanesh was temporarily weakened, it looks like Khorne would probably go on the 'offensive'. I'm guessing that would both be a spiritual matter (in that Khorne's influence would convert some segments of the Warp proper that had previously been Slaanesh's) and also a martial one (ie, the various creatures under Khorne would attack Slaanesh's for a bit). And then that dynamic flips as Slaanesh's minions start to drink starcracker bolts. Which leaves Khorne feeling rather miffed (though presumably pleased at the slaughter, because Khorne).

I like the notion of Palpatine 'escaping' into Tzeentch's realm, but I think the Changer of Ways might have more on his hands than he bargained for. Assuming we can place the Warp and the Force on roughly equal pedestals, Palpatine is the number one Force user in the galaxy (second only to the Three who dwell on Mortis, the embodiments of the Light, Dark, and Balance, who might be dead anyway). Drawing from the Legends canon for a minute, his powers include mind-controlling the entire Imperial Navy, creating a Force Storm powerful enough to wreck a planet and open a direct hyperspace wormhole, and returning from the dead into his own clones.

The description of the Crystal Labyrinth on Lexicanum includes phrases like this:

Its glittering corridors reflect not only light but also hope, misery, dreams and nightmares. The labyrinth does not merely reflect but also distorts, pulling apart hope and purpose turning them into insanity and despair.

Hope? Misery? Dreams? Nightmares? Palpatine has none of these. Purpose he has in spades, and that purpose is, first, to claim absolute power, and second, to impose absolute order.

Palpatine will not surrender his sanity nor his purpose. He is the writer of his own destiny, and no-one - not the Jedi, not the Republic, not the Gods of Chaos or the Force itself - is going to take that from him.

... I mean, obviously Tzeentch could still kill him. But it seems out-of-character for an entity steeped in cunning and conspiracy to just straight-up kill someone who's proving difficult to control. I imagine the best path to try and claim Palpatine is to let him think he's stealing from you - slip him little bits of power, so that he will (hopefully) become hungry for more.

Which, if Vader's rescue mission succeeds, could backfire tremendously, unleashing a Warp-bearing but 'uncorrupted' (ie, not more than he already was by the Dark Side) Palpatine on the combined galaxies.

Speaking of Vader... there's someone who could be corrupted, but not by Tzeentch. If Palpatine is driven by his purpose, Vader is entirely propelled by anger. Would Khorne accept Vader's fealty and grant him power to steal Palpatine out from under Tzeentch's nose? That sounds like a win/win scenario for the Blood God, who needs a boost against Slaanesh anyway.

... sweet mercy. How's Luke going to cope with finding out he's got a Daemon Prince for a father now?

hS

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