I'm sure you all see this event to be as unlikely as i do, what with his favor by chaos itself and all that, but what if Abaddon kicks the bucket at the hands of, say, the inquisition or a coalition of highly trained (and likely suicidal) loyalist marines? who takes over? is this a blow Chaos on the whole can quickly bounce, or does it lead to a crumbling of chaos forces in the region untill a new champion is chosen? what would be the implications of a champion backed by a single chaos god taking this "top spot" as it were?

Horus Aximand steps in and leads a new Black Crusade.

1) Abaddon burns a fate point and the forces of chaos save him....
2) GW comes up with an even more powerful Chaos Overlord
3) One of the two (or both) of the Lost Chapters come over and present their version of Abaddon
4) He was eaten by Tyranid and thus Holy Terra was already eaten and its game over
5) The God Emperor takes his place
6) He is elevated to Daemon Prince and continues to serve

I would say options 1, 2 or 6

Woah woah two or six? You almost make it sound like Games Workshop is willing to change big things in the universe on a meaningful scale, no their more about making wide sweeping non sensical small details to factions that drastically change what they are like... usually by means of Matt Ward! Such as you know turning the Grey Knights into a bunch of Xanthites who're immune to Chaos as opposed to having to still try and resist it and being all the more impressive for suceeding...

They wont change something like that... lets look at his Warhammer Fantasy battle equivelant Archaon who messed up and lost a big chaos incursion they didn't even turn him into a Chaos spawn because the Chaos gods are you know ok with failure on a massive scale and let him off where all of his predecessors had the good grace to die. [Inaudible grumbles]

But as for the Black Legion Little Horus would be a likely contender if Archaon kicked the bucket as new leader. If developments did happen perhaps someone from the Word Bearers might step up to lead more of the vast hordes of Chaos.

Back during the big Eye of Terror summer event several years ago, which revolved around Abbaddon's 13th Black Crusade against Cadia, GW stated that the outcome of that campaign would effect the official history of the 40K universe: if the Loyalists won, itwould mark the beginning of a new "golden age" for the Imperium, while if Chaos won, the Imperium was pretty much doomed. Chaos won, due in large part to most of the official event scenarios being weighted in Chaos' favor (explain to me how an invading force can ambush entrenched defenders on a Fortress World?!). So officially, a century after the setting of the WH40KRP games, Abbaddon and the Planet Killer are en route to Holy Terra. If Abbaddon were to somehow die before arriving, I doubt it would cause much of a ripple amongst his warhost...
 

Oops- double post.

Gaius said:

I hate the Word Bearers, but that's mostly because of Erebus, Lorgar, and Kor Phaeron, from the Horus Heresy series.

And frankly, when you take in all the information, the change in attitude of the Grey Knights makes a bit more sense. They're all about fighting Daemons and stopping the Warp from breaching reality. What if they were confronted with a situation where the ONLY WAY to stop something was to resort to using the powers of Chaos themselves (and you know I don't mean psychic powers). Maybe there are other means that can get the job done, but you won't always have a vial of Sanguinius' tears, or something, to throw in to the growing breach.

So, what to do? Should they just curl up in to a ball and die because they've failed? And they've failed, even if they go out in a blaze of glory, carving through Daemonic hordes the whole damn way. And, while it is also a bit of fairly new fluff (a reinterpretation really), that's what the Grey Knights aren't supposed to let happen. They're called in when the shit is really hitting the fan, with the orders to stop what's happening at all costs.

I'm not saying there isn't bad fluff, but when we look at something we should do it with a more critical eye than simply saying it sucks because, "Matt Ward wrote this".

 No matter how powerful Abaddon is, he is still just one guy.  If he dies, Chaos loses nothing...  The Black Legion will either splinter into other warbands again or fall behind a new chaos lord with the might and charisma to lead them.  No big deal to Chaos, in fact the radical changes probably suit the ruinous powers.

Adeptus-B said:

Wait what... where the hell does it say any of this about the Imperium ending in a century? More to the point, where the hell does it say it's official.

Especially since, if I remember correctly, the BFG side of things was a sweeping victory for the Imperials.

Blood Pact said:

Grey Knights willing to go Xanthite are imaginable. A letdown for many, but it can make sense.

Grey Knights going full Xanthite yet remaining incorruptible make no sense at all. You dabble in Chaos, Chaos dabbles in you. 

Blood Pact said:

Just for the record that -IS- a totally legit arguement strategy and point. but I will agree with you that the Word Bearers can lick smeg as I too have grown to loath them from reading the HH series.

Morangias said:

Wasn't there a part in the Gre Knights Codex about them annointing themselves in the blood of the Sisters of Battle they butchered because they claimed that the Sisters were "tainted by Chaos"???? hmmmmm......seems pretty khornite to me..

Blood Pact said:

The statement I was refering to was in a White Dwarf promoting the Eye of Terror campaign. And the doom of the Imperium has been officially incorporated into the background fluff of the latest edition of the tabletop game- it doesn't expressly state that the Planet Killer destroys Terra, but it makes it clear that the Imperium is dying and won't last long into the 42nd Millenium.

Adeptus-B said:

So

Abbaddon blows up Terra, finally releasing the Emperor's soul from the Golden Throne and allowing him to be reincarnated. He leads a new Crusade to unite the Imperium.

Or

Abbaddon blows up Terra, destroying the High Lords (why do I think of Cheech and Chong there?), causing the Imperium to fracture.  Now, every time two different IG regiments line up on the tourney board, it actually makes sense.This causes another event on the order of the Age of Apostasy. After several centuries of fragmentation, a new Sebastian Thor like figure emerges and leads a new crusade to unite humanity.

A couple of wild cards are also out there: Cypher/the rest of the Fallen and Alpha Legion. Both have had a bit of fluff attached to them over the years that could be spun to be interpreted as they are acting more like Recongegators or Istvaanians than foes of the imperial ideal

Morangias said:

Unless your WIll is that strong.

Blood Pact said:

Exactly.....what Magnus thought

Incorruptibility does not sit well with me in 40K as a grimdark setting.