Editing High Lords of Terra (section)

==The High Lords at the end of the 41st Millenium and the Rise of the Primarch==

''Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor's Legion'' has actually finally given us details about the High Lords during the Fall of Cadia, giving us a full list of names and going into detail on the actual politicking that the Lords get up to (Mostly concerning the Adeptus Custodes' deploytment, which dominates the first half of the book). Lev Tieron, the Chancellor of the Imperial Council of the time, notes that many of the High Lords he'd known were variously mad, obsessed, verifiably sociopathic, power-hungry, or some mix of the above - yet they were still the best qualified to do their jobs, even if the stresses caused them to burn out quickly. He even obliquely references the long-running fandom perception of them as useless idiots disconnected from the state of the Imperium, and notes that to be a understandable if wrong perception of them. Make of that what you will.

It also revealed that an important part of Terra's political background is the so-called "Static Tendency" - essentially the belief that since the Emperor had decreed the Council of Terra was the best way of running the Imperium, [[Inquisition#Puritans|any proposal to deviate from this was only slightly better than outright heresy.]] In practice however, this was little more than an excuse not to upset the status quo or deviate outside from the comfortable norms. This was made blindingly clear in the lead-up to and '''especially''' in the aftermath of Cadia's fall and the subsequent return of the [[Primarch]] [[Roboute Guilliman]], as the Static Tendency would thoroughly reveal itself as a hollow justification to cling to power by those who didn't deserve it, had failed in their duties, and were now willing to resort to treason and defying the will of the Emperor himself in order to retain their position and status. [[Fail|Needless to say, it didn't work]].

''Vaults of Terra'' reveals another far darker side to the High Lords. At least 3 of them were involved in a massive conspiracy to smuggle / lure (potentially a bit of both) a Dark Eldar [[Haemonculus]] onto Terra and into the Palace so that he could fix the Golden Throne / try to resurrect the Emperor. Insanity of the plan aside, it goes without saying that the High Lords had also given considerable "payment" to the Dark Eldar in exchange (read LOTS OF slaves and torture victims). They even contrived to attack various parts of the Inquisition in order to keep the secret. This worked surprisingly well, right up until the conspirators tried pulling the same trick with the Custodes who promptly carved them to pieces. Even whilst the Great Rift was unfolding, the conspirators still tried to keep covering their bases, ignoring the Astronomicon failing in order to cover up their dirty laundry. Far less doddering incompetence and far more sneaky bastarding evil.

As of ''the Gathering Storm'', Roboute Guilliman came back to [[Terra]] and proceeded to go full [[Rage|'Powerfisting-mode']] at several members of the High Lords following an attempted civil coup d'etat against him, replacing them with people Papa Smurf (seemingly - see below) trusted in the capabilities and competences of. The other High Lords who were not removed were given a mean look by the Blue Wonder and were essentially given a second chance with Robby keeping a close eye on them from afar, and the [[Custodes|Talons of]] [[Sisters of Silence|The Emperor]] keeping a much more immediate (and stabby) eye on them from nearby. Regardless of affiliation, the Council was rocked by the change to thousands of years of them on top, as well as the colossal waves of reforms put in place by Bobby G. Some of them got the message. [[Fail|Some did not]].

[[Corvus Corax]] said in ''Corax: Lord of Shadows'' of the ''Primarch'' series that "Few are as short-sighted as those about to lose power" and by <s>Christ</s> the Emperor is that an apt assessment, and one that applies well to the High Lords. Given that this was an express order issued directly by The Master of Mankind himself to his own son and was confirmed by the Captain-General of the Custodes, who himself was now a High Lord, that really should have been the end of it many times over. Instead it lasted about as long as it took for Guilliman to head off on the [[Indomitus Crusade]], whereupon several High Lords (and two prior incumbent deposed by Guilliman) attempted to stage a coup against him in absentia; this involved sapping away manpower and resources from desperately needed areas (including the entire [[Minotaurs]] Chapter) while allowing chaotic cults to flourish on Terra, to grant themselves the forces and pretext necessary to take over. Unfortunately for them however, [[Adeptus_Custodes|The Custodes]], [[Sisters of Silence]], [[Assassin|Assassins]], and later the [[Imperial Fists]] were having absolutely none of it and promptly intervened.

Immediately after the couple of hours it took for the Custodians to notice, the traitor High Lords were permanently ventilated, the Minotaurs forced to obey by the replacement Mistress of the Administratum, Violeta Roskavler, and replacement Lords were drafted in.

It's later revealed that Guilliman, Trajan Valoris, and Violeta Roskavler predicted that something like this would happen, so at least they're aware of what the council is like. It also adds an interesting possibility that Guilliman deliberately stacked the council with potential liabilities/left them in (he could have flooded the first redraft with reformers, but didn't) so that he could later replace them with the competent loyalists after those tendencies were proven suspect got themselves killed along with the Cults they had let form, purging Terra of traitors of both the Chaotic and power-hungry moron kinds in a matter of hours.

[[Just as Planned|That's legitimately clever.]]