Warhammer 40K 8th Edition: Corax returns

This article over at Bell of Lost Souls got me to thinking.

It's a good piece talking about the likelihood of certain primarchs coming back. As much as I'd love to see the Great Khan riding back on a Dark Eldar reaver jetbike, screaming out on a bolt of lightning from the web way, I don't think it's likely.

We could engage in speculation all day about any primarch coming back and the reasons for it, but something else in the rumour mill caught my eye:

-8th Edition starter is Astartes vs Chaos Marines.

-Rulebook will be similar to Age of Sigmar’s General’s Handbook.

-Look for Campaign Books similar to the Realmgate Wars series.

-Point costs and rules for Army construction will be in the “General’s Handbook” and future codex-like Books

-Release date for 8th Edition is June

-The new Edition will be set after Abaddons’s 13th Black Crusade

-Initial focus on factions will be on Imperium vs. Chaos

-There are brewing disagreement between the returning Primarchs

-Many are shocked and disagree the 40th Millennia Imperium’s religion and injustice.

Since BoLS is disinclined to let us know where this came from, we'll just have to take Larry Vela's word for it. I can't verify the validity of the above quote for myself, so I'm going to treat it as a "What if..." scenario rather than a proper piece of furtune telling.

However, what caught my eye was the last piece: Many are shocked and disagree with the 40th Millenia Imperium's religion and injustice.

Some might have guessed where I'm going with this from the title, so I'll just say it; Corvus Corax of the Ravenguard is going to come back, and split from the Imperium.

When we last saw Corax, he was making his way to the Eye of Terror, intent on... something. I again can't follow this up because there are no citations. But after giving 'mercy' to some of his marines he accidentally turned into monsters (like the Wulfen... or Black Dragons), and kept locked up in a tower on their home world (like the Death Company...), he allegedly disappeared into the maw of hell quothing the raven, "Never more."

If this story is true, it's highly likely he would become corrupted by Chaos. He was already feeling guilt at the near total destruction of his legion, and his failure at recreating them. In such a state, he would be susceptible to whispers from the Dark Gods. I find it unlikely he would bow to any in particular.

But why would he do so?

Well, Corax grew up as a freedom fighter. His home world was ruled by tech-lords, and the miner-slave population he was part of were brutally oppressed. He was trained to fight back against an oppressive regime, and that people-first spirit is something that is carried on as a theme through the Ravenguard.

It's likely if he were to return from the Eye of Terror, even if he had managed to keep his mind Chaos-free for 10,000 years, he would look upon the brutish Administratum and shocking living conditions of the average Imperial serf with utter dismay.

It may be that he would view this new Imperium with disgust, and decide to fight against the same oppression and disregard for human life that defined his youth.

What could happen is a schism of the Imperium, with certain Primarchs answering this call to reform the decaying ruling structure. There would be divisions among chapters again, maybe even with successor chapters in-fighting among each other.

Or he'll just come back and say "I hate the Alpha Legion, lets kill them." Seems to be Magnus's current thinking...

Thanks for reading.

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