Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

= So What’s The Deal With Nobledark Imperium Anyway =

If you’re here, you’ve probably already read the blurb on the main page and have come here looking for information on what's going on in this universe or what your favorite factions have been up to. If not, you may want to check out [[Nobledark Imperium|the opening of the Nobledark Imperium main page]] to get a general idea of what the setting is about.

The general high concept of Nobledark Imperium is that by 999.M41, the “sane” races of the galaxy (humans, eldar, tau, and others) have united in an alliance as a bastion against Chaos, the Necrons, the tyranids, and the rest. Essentially the [[Lord of the Rings|last alliance of men and <s>elves</s> eldar]] but IN SPACE. At the same time, things have escalated to the point that the survival of everything is in doubt (including Chaos). Overall, individual power levels are on the whole slightly lower in exchange for sanity, competence, and common sense but the power level of the various factions is actually increased. Imperium is more powerful because it is the combination of humans, eldar, tau, and many other xenos races, and because there was no Horus Heresy. Chaos is more powerful because the Emperor and Isha are still walking around and therefore the Chaos Gods are more focused on the common threat like during the [[Horus Heresy]] and have taken a bigger interest in realspace. Also while no one legion fell to Chaos, Chaos has enough that it has both [[Chaos Space Marines|spiky marines]] and [[Nobledark_Imperium_Forces_of_Chaos#The_Crone_World_Eldar|crazy fair folk]] to work with. The Necrons are mostly awake and more organized under the Silent King, who has more direct control over them. Orks are increasingly organized and all around scarier. Tyranids are more powerful because their main fleet actually showed up.

The overall tone of the universe is nobledark. That is, the universe is a dark, dangerous, and sometimes downright nasty place, but people at their core are basically good (or at least well-intentioned). There are still plenty of monsters out there, but quite a few of them genuinely believe what they are doing is right in addition to the ones that are flat out nasty. This tone is somewhat heterogenous, in between the general tone of nobledark there are spots of hope along with great big blotches of darkness (such as [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Krieg|Krieg]], [[Nobledark_Imperium_Primarchs#Lion|what happened to the Dark Angels]], and [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Altansar|Craftworld Altansar]] to name a few) for contrast.

By 999.M41, the galaxy can generally be divided into four major factions.

'''TEAM IMPERIUM'''<br>
'''[[Imperium of Man|Humanity]]''' - The Imperium isn’t the Imperium of Man anymore (though it was at one point long ago in history). It’s the Imperium of men, eldar, tau, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States#Kinebrach|kinebrach]], [[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States#Tarellians|tarellians]], and a hundred other races. Humanity is less totalitarian and xenophobic than in canon, as the Emperor wasn’t around for most of the Age of Strife and the purpose of the Great Crusade wasn’t manifest destiny but to restore humanity to its former glory. No glorification of the Holy Human Form, if anything because the Warlord/Steward/Emperor and [[Nobledark_Imperium_Primarchs#Magnus_the_Red|at least three]] [[Nobledark_Imperium_Primarchs#Horus|of the primarchs]] [[Nobledark_Imperium_Primarchs#Sanguinius|were abhumans]], not to mention the numerous worlds with abhuman populations. Generally adopt the [[Interex]] method to dealing with Chaos with mixed success: fewer people fall to Chaos but because of this the Ruinous Powers pump more power behind the people crazy enough to invoke them. No monolithic theocracy because religion is considered a good Chaos deterrent. Technology is still mostly controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus and is largely stagnant (advancing at a glacial pace at best) and A.I. is still considered a boogeyman, but closer to 30k than 40k in tech levels (things like jetbikes and volkite weapons are still around, but expensive and rare). Horus Heresy never happened, no primarch fell and no legion turned to Chaos entirely, but the Chaos-supercharged War of the Beast essentially took its place.<br>
'''[[Eldar|Craftworld/Exodite Eldar]]''' – Overall less arrogant and haughty than in canon (though still pretty arrogant). Have gradually gotten less arrogant as time has passed (something similar has happened with humanity and xenophobia). Joined forces with humanity in order to rescue Isha from Nurgle in exchange for helping humanity with the Astronomican and general anti-Chaos measures, later formed a permanent alliance after the War of the Beast. Actually have people skills in this timeline, so are capable of engaging in diplomacy and communicating with people beyond cultural posturing. Freeing Isha from Nurgle has restored hope to their people, though they are still a long way from shaking off their “dying race” status.<br>
'''[[Tau]]''' – The last of the major (lol) powers to join the Imperium, tried to go it alone for many millennia but eventually joined in M39 when they saw they couldn’t survive by themselves (Farsight broke away because of this). Rose to power not through pheromone brainwashing by the Ethereals (which they don’t have since in canon it was engineered by the Eldar in a bid to create <s>reliable allies</s> living tools, which they don’t need in this timeline since they have humanity) but through their own blood, sweat, and tears. Obedience to the Ethereals is more social engineering than anything else. Genuinely well-meaning, but also a bit arrogant and naive. No longer have the brainwashing and sinister Orwellian undertones, but have lost their plot armor in exchange. Currently have an arc similar to humanity in [[Bioware|Mass Effect 1]]: they’ve recently realized they’re in a galaxy where they’re not at the big boys table and they take that as a challenge to overcome.<br>

'''“TEAM” CHAOS'''<br>
“Team” being used here in only the loosest sense of the word. The groups here are not really unified into a cohesive front and in the case of two of them (Orks and Dark Eldar) are only nominally associated with Chaos. That said, the [[Chaos Gods]] are on a more united war footing like they were during the [[Horus Heresy]] and are able to at the very least get their daemons, the Crone Eldar, the Chaos Space Marines, and the Lost and the Damned to put their differences aside and [[get shit done]]<br>
'''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Forces_of_Chaos#The_Crone_World_Eldar|Croneworld/Chaos Eldar]]''' – The only original faction on the list. Have effectively taken the place of Chaos Space Marines as the chosen of the Chaos Gods because no legion entirely fell to Chaos. Formed from the eldar living on the Crone Worlds in the Eye of Terror after Slaanesh who, in a spectacular instance of long-term thinking, decided to just eat ''most'' of the eldar on the Crone Worlds instead of ''all'' of them because it saw the benefits of having cultists constantly worshiping it (a more reasonable explanation would be Eldar selling their souls to any other Dark God than Slaanesh to at least ensure they're souls won't be eaten or raped). Because it’s not just the mortal races that have gotten a dose of sanity in this timeline, the Chaos Gods are more savvy as well. Basically, where Craftworld Eldar are [[Lord of the Rings|Tolkien]]-[[The_Silmarillion|esque]] elves and Dark Eldar are inspired by space pirates and [[Dark Elves (Warhammer)]]/[[Drow]], the Croneworld Eldar are essentially the fair folk and the Wild Hunt meet Chaos cultists. Led by [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notes#Lady_Malys|Lady Aurelia Malys]], the Everchosen of Chaos, who is effectively the “[[Abbadon]]” of this setting.<br>
'''[[Chaos Space Marines]]''' – No legion or primarch completely fell to Chaos, but significant numbers turned during the War of the Beast (including the majority of the Dark Angels) and afterwards. Known as “The Fallen” in this timeline primarily because most of them used to be Dark Angels. The Chaos Gods like to give them extra buffs due to their uniqueness value relative to the Chaos Eldar to the point that while their numbers are lower the average Fallen could probably win against a regular Astartes in one-on-one combat.<br>
'''[[Orks]]''' – Lumped in with Chaos because although they are not outright allied with Chaos, many of Chaos’ greatest victories have been ork-related (such as the War of the Beast) and the Crone World Eldar like to manipulate them into serving as cannon fodder and shock troops (similar to what the eldar do to the Imperium in canon). The orks in-universe recently got a huge dose of dangerous in the form of [[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Brain_Boyz|Brain Boyz]], which are basically orks like in [[War of the Beast|The Beast Arises]] series that give the orks around them a collective buff in intelligence by their very presence. The Crone World Eldar are actually getting worried about their ability to manipulate the Orks because of this. Chaos Orks are a thing. Chaos has been devoting more of its efforts to corrupting the orks, but with mixed success. It is possible for Orks to turn to Chaos, but it’s like with [[Chaos Dwarfs]] where they have to individually choose to fall. Orks tend to fight Chaos just as often as they ally with it.<br>
'''[[Dark Eldar]]''' – Space pirates, mad scientists, slavers, and raiders. Not too different from canon. Come off as slightly more pragmatic than in canon, if only because they have their crazy warpdust-snorting kin in the Eye of Terror as a point of contrast. Often raid in the wake of Chaos invasions, not because they like the Crone World Eldar but because they see weakness and opportunity and follow (they do this with everybody, for example raiding Tau space after a Hive Fleet hit). At the turn of the millennium on M40 Lady Malys and Asdrubael Vect were unified in the Dark Wedding, allying the Dark and Chaos Eldar in preparation for the 13th Black Crusade. Not every denizen of Commorragh likes this arrangement.<br>
'''[[Lost and the Damned]]''' – Viking raiders meet Viet Cong. Have taken some influence from [[Warriors of Chaos]] and [[Beastmen]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]], because most warbands are poorly supplied and melee weapons don't need reloading. Range from to warbands like the Blood Pact (led by Doombreed) who are well-organized and have actual infrastructure to warbands who barely scrape by and do temp work for the Dark Mechanicus and the Crone Eldar in exchange for gear.

'''TEAM NECRON'''<br>
'''[[Necron|Necron Star Empire]]''' - Basically a “best of both worlds” mix of both Oldcrons and Newcrons. On the one hand, the Necrons do want to kill all life in the galaxy, but they’re not doing this because they are controlled by the C’tan. They’re doing this of their own free will, because they see it as the only way to kill Chaos and make the galaxy safe for future life (specifically them, the fact that they will be the only species to actually benefit from this is immaterial to them), going so far as to regard it as a mercy kill. Additionally, while many Necrons have personalities and quirks, they are essentially a post-individual society slaved to the will of the Silent King, who is [[Settra the Imperishable|not a nice guy]] and is willing to alter their individuality and minds as he sees fit. The few exceptions are the Necrons who are either too crazy to be controlled (Nemesor Zahndrekh, Xun’bakyr) or have circumvented the control protocols through other means ([[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Solemnnace|Trazyn the Infinite]], Orikan the Diviner). More organized than in canon, more of the dynasties have awoken than in canon and there's a big-ass Necron Star Empire in the galactic northeast where the Sautekh, Oruscar, Nekthyst and other dynasties are in canon.<br>
'''[[C%27tan|C’tan]]''' – Again, a “best of both worlds” approach. While many of the C’tan were sharded and imprisoned with Tesseract Labyrinths, the big names ([[Nobledark_Imperium_Notes#Nightbringer|Nightbringer]], [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Void_Dragon|Void Dragon]], [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notes#Outsider|Outsider]]) are still essentially whole and very real threats. The sole exception is the Deceiver, who allowed himself to get shattered on purpose so he could essentially troll people in multiple places at the same time. In addition, at least two of the C’tan (Void Dragon and Nightbringer) have figured out how to use warp power for their own benefit by being an object of worship/fear. Most certainly not allied with the Necrons, who hate most of them (especially the Nightbringer and Deceiver). Present an addition threat to the Imperium in the form of [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notes#C'tan_Vampires|C’tan vampires]].<br>

'''TEAM TYRANID'''<br>
'''[[Tyranids]]''' - Not too different from canon. Main difference is that the genestealers and Hive Fleets showed up early (Behemoth in M37, Kraken in M38, and Leviathan in M39), and the famous three Hive Fleets (Behemoth, Kraken, and Leviathan) really were just scouting fleets. The main Hive Fleet just started to make galaxyfall about two and a half centuries ago. Another major difference is they were a threat that nobody saw coming. Not the Imperium with its farseers, not Chaos, not even the Necron Star Empire. They are a completely outside context problem.

In addition to these, there are a number of independent parties that are not aligned with any faction, including the Q’orl swarmhood, Craftworlds [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Dorhai|Dorhai]] and [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Kaelor|Kaelor]], the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Hrud|Hrud]], the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notes#Zoats|Zoats]], [[Nobledark_Imperium_Drafts#The_Rangdan_Xenocides_and_the_Slaugth|the Slaugth]], the Severan Dominate, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notes#Olamic_Quietude|the Olamic Quietude]], and Trazyn the Infinite and several other Necron dynasties. Orks and Dark Eldar could also be added to this list, as they really only fight alongside Chaos when it serves their purposes.

Each of the factions has their own effective “win” condition, which are as follows:

'''Imperium''' - Not die. Surprisingly, the Imperium doesn't have that strong of a win condition compared to the other powers. There are the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Imperial_Society_and_Culture#The_Starchild_Prophecies|Starchild Prophecies]], but the Starchild prophecies are often vague and many of them actually don't say the birth of the Starchild is a good thing. One of the most popular interpretations out-of-universe is that the Starchild is Ynnead and his birth will allow the Imperium to finally go on the offensive against Chaos, but nothing is set in stone.<br>
'''Chaos''' - March on Terra, burn it to the ground, kill the Emperor, and drag Isha back into the Warp. Destroy the Necron Star Empire and the tyranid swarm while they are at it.<br>
'''Necron Star Empire''' - Activate the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Cadia|Cadian Pillars]], which would starve Chaos, as well as kill off the Imperium and the tyranids. Then take the first sentient race that evolves after the Cadian pillars are deactivated and use them for the biotransference.<br>
'''Tyranids''' - Swarm across the galaxy to the two biggest concentrations of psychic energy (Eye of Terror and Old Earth), choking out Chaos and wiping out the Imperium in the process. Necron Star Empire would presumably be overrun in the process.

The “present day” of the setting is effectively “frozen” as one minute to midnight on 999.M41 Earth time, much like was for many years. This is not to say that nothing can happen after this time, but that anything past this date is non-canonical and effectively but one of many possible courses the future could take. The fate of the galaxy is ultimately an exercise for the reader. Do you believe Ynnead is the Impossible Child and ultimately drags Slaanesh off to hell for all the suffering they caused? Then he is. [[The End Times|Do you believe the Imperium puts up a valiant last stand but are ultimately overcome by the hordes of Chaos?]] Then it does. Do the Necrons succeed in their goal to activate the Cadian Pillars and kill all life in the galaxy? Do the Orks break free and krump the rest of da’ gitz? Do the tyranids OM NOM NOM everything? You decide. The nature of the future, including who wins, who loses, who lives, and who dies, is effectively up to the reader to determine.