Editing Advancing the Storyline (section)

==Was it worth it?==
In reviving Guilliman and presenting the Imperium as outright angelic in newer pieces of artwork such as the 9th edition core book cover, the setting of 40k has shifted away from the themes of "an empire in decline" to something moreso resembling "heroic fantasy in space!" The Imperium is technically still declining, sure, but GW's way of showing off the progress of that decline is quite literally half-assed: Only half the galaxy is actually experiencing what it's like for the Imperium to finally begin to balkanize and crumble, while the other is seemingly experiencing a sort of Renaissance. To top it off, the Imperium is beginning to be portrayed less as "the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable" and moreso as "noble defenders of humanity", seemingly because it's the safe option. Compound this with the fact that the Primaris Marines bring a host of new toys with them that fly in the face of "forget the power of science and technology, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned" and you have a recipe for an Imperium that isn't in decline, but in an upswing that allows GW's posterboys to come across as noble, child-friendly space paladins instead of monstrous post-human killers who doomed humanity to a slow, painful death spanning several millennia through the Horus Heresy (it is also worth noting that this has been a massive boon to personal narratives, because the grimdark cruelty is still there, and the clash between it and the more noble, progressive and hopeful arrivals is fertile ground for stories- Roboute's reaction to the Imperium particularly springs to mind).

Would it have been better if Guilliman hadn't returned, and the Imperium had truly begun to balkanize? To reinforce the theme of decline and give players more narrative justification for the Imperium mirror matches that so often appear on the table? Sure, it's not going to please Timmy the Imperium fanboy once he realizes that the setting was all about his faction's slow death since the days of Rogue Trader, but it could be more narratively satisfying and cohesive to double down on what had already been established instead of going for something altogether more, well, marketable. Hell, there's still ways to justify new models, too - there's a million ways to introduce the new Primaris range into the setting, be it through marines beginning to manufacture new gear based on designs the Mechanicus hoarded for millennia or just plain retconning.

Not to mention the fact that the more "noble" image of the Imperium, combined with a seemingly benevolent dictator taking power being the reason for its survival, leans into narratives that would make the average /pol/tard cream themselves when you consider the fact the Imperium is still the xenophobic, genocidal, totalitarian nightmare it always has been, just portrayed in a more sympathetic light.

There is potentially a more interesting take on the return of [[Roboute Guilliman|Grandpapa Smurf]] and the formation of the [[Great Rift|Cicatrix Maledictum]] in that it allows 40k to juxtapose its darker elements better. When everything is shit, it gets hard to distinguish which shit is shitter because it all blends together, but by introducing sprinkles of hope, it allows you to frame the darker elements into a better light. Since Guilliman returned, the [[Great Rift|galaxy split in two]], [[Octarius War|the war on Octarius saw Hivefleet Leviathan growing in size substantially]], Daemon Primarchs have started returned en masse, multiple [[Genestealer Cult]]s have been found on [[Terra]], the Arch Magos of [[Forgeworld]] Metalica was killed when [[Typhus]] sieged the planet, and the Necrons have set up the Pariah Nexus. For every reform Guilliman can wrangle from the High Lords, Adeptus Miniostrum, or various hierarchies to make the Imperium run more efficiently, there spring up 20 more crisises that must be addressed. There is a ray of hope in the darkness, which may seem lighter than the total darkness of before, but know you can tell just how much darkness there is left to resolve.

Or maybe we're better off with what we have right now. It's something worth thinking about. Regardless, the 40k fandom would've accepted just about anything when it comes to new narrative developments - they were starved of it for decades, after all.