Subject: The Force is Life.
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Posted on: 2022-01-02 10:27:57 UTC

The Force is Life.

Across the Galaxy it has been given myriad names: Ashla, the Life Current, the Great Presence, simply It. It has been seen as an emanation of living beings, as an energy field binding star to star, as a spirit that watches over its adherents. But all those who touch it agree on one point:

The Force is Life.

Nightsisters. Navigators. Sorcerers. Monks. There are as many ways to touch the Force as there are adherents. Each of us perceives it in our own way, through the lens of our own reality.

Jedi. Sith.

Some of us have been allies. Some of us have been enemies. Many of us have been the bitterest of foes. But one understanding connects us:

The Force is Life.

And the Warp is not.

The Warp is madness and death. I have seen the Warp, have been bound within its shackles of insanity, have faced its lures and promises of death, and have only escaped by the strength of my will and the Force that is in me. If any of you have believed the Warp to be an aspect of the Force - as I once did - put aside that notion, for it is a lie. The Warp is the antithesis of Life.

And we can destroy it.

Tens of thousands of years ago, all knowledge of the Force was combined. All our countless orders worked together as one. Now, to face this abomination from another galaxy, we must join together once more.

I have seen that the Warp draws its corrosive power from turmoil in the souls of the living. Each of us who touch the Force know of the need to focus our will upon it - and this very focus, this control of our own spirits, can be applied to the vile Warp. Calm your minds, soothe those around you, and - whether you follow the ways of Ashla or Bogan - the Force will work through you to still the roiling Warp, and weaken the unnatural creatures that dwell within it.

If we every one of us combines our will - the Force of an entire galaxy united at last - we can give the daemons of the Warp the fate they have offered so many others.

Madness. And death.

I have foreseen it.

  • Message from Emperor Palatine, broadcast across all accessible networks and frequencies, 997.M41.

The many adherents of the Force receive Palpatine's appeal in myriad ways. Some ignore it. Others mock it as a transparent attempt to bring them under Sith control. Others - among them the Knights of Ren, the Sorcerors of Tund, and the sky-walkers of the Chiss - accept it wholeheartedly.

The resurgent Jedi Order, at the very limits of the transmission's reach, convenes a great Council of every member it can summon. Masters, Knights, and Padawans sit side by side, debating the message and its hidden meanings. Master Yoda is firmly opposed, remembering Chancellor Palpatine's betrayal. Luke Skywalker is more ambivalent, reasoning that all the Emperor is suggesting is the same battle meditation the Jedi have employed against the Tyranids for years.

In the end, it is the Lion of Caliban who tips the balance. Though a mere padawan, he stands tall amongst his fellow Jedi that day. "I do not know this false Emperor," he says, "but his words are true. The Warp brings only madness and death. The Jedi are - must be - its sworn enemy. By the strength of the Force, let its vile whispers be silenced at last."


My inclination is to say that Palpatine's plan, as written, will calm the currents of the Warp in locations with heavy Force user concentrations. That should weaken enemy Psykers and (particularly) Chaos creatures in the vicinity, and also have some effect on the Rift, but nothing major.

It will also make it easier for ships of the Imperium to travel. That's great for Palpatine - his Empire isn't in contact with the Imperium right now anyway! Not so great for everyone else.

It won't affect the Chaos Gods , of course. But it will begin the process of attuning the minds of the galaxies to the Force, and thus preparing them to accept a singular will: Palpatine's.

One mind to rule them all.


The key conflict in this whole story is that 40K is a setting where individuals don't matter. There are no true heroes (or villains, because that's just the same thing from a different version of the story), because even the greatest individual is nothing against the galaxy of war. Bobby Gulls has achieved basically nothing in the prime timeline; just a continuation of the grind.

But Star Wars is very much a story of heroes. One shot can end an empire. One hand can steer a galaxy. One word can rewrite fate.

So far, we've got a lot of hero-centred writing, but none of it has really changed anything. By attempting to turn the Force and all its adherents into an extension of his own plans, Palpy is making a concerted effort to change that.

hS

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