Setting:Nobledark Imperium Reforged

"The night is dark and full of horror, but the dawn is coming - and it will be glorious. All we must do is survive."

– Sgt. Marcus Albus, Mustavaar 3rd Rifles Regiment, 845.M40

Welcome to Nobledark Imperium: Reforged, A rework of the original Nobledark Imperium Setting of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Described as "given a buff to competence and common sense akin to a high-fantasy fiction with many races working together à la Elder Scrolls. Generally speaking, Nobledark deviates less from Vanilla 40k than the writefagging of Hektor Heresy and Imperium Asunder; we still have the same xenos races, the same Primarchs (at least in name), and the vast majority of the same Space Marine Legions (and later chapters). Keep in mind that this is just one example of Nobledark. Nobledark is a type of setting like Grimdark is. You can make your own Nobledark Imperium that is not even remotely like this one (such as the Men of Gold thing). Just, y'know, not on this page."

I changed a lot of things and mixed the best elements of Vanilla 40k and the Orignal Nobledark Imperium.

A brief summary of the deviations and their results, in chronological(ish) order:

• The Emperor (formerly the Warlord,) is a perpetual like Ollanius Pius and was born in ancient Sumeria several centuries after its founding, instead of a bunch of reincarnated Shamans like in older lore. (He has lived thousands of lives, kind of like the Immortal from Invincible, so basically a Lawful good version of Vandal Savage). He became close friends with Malcador and created the thunder warriors, like Vanilia 40k.
• But The Emperor made a better decision in regards to religion in this story, imposing state secularism, rather trying to force religion underground and out of sight
• Many of the Primarchs still live, Magnus helped found the Grey Knights and now sits upon the Golden Throne, none of the Primarchs turned traitor (like Nobledark Imperium), Ferrus Manus still dies, but Kharn the Betrayer is now the Lord of the Traitor Marines. However, they are all just versions of their vanilla selves (with some changes); for example, Konrad is very much like Arch's Loyalist version of the character and blinded himself to stop the visions, while Russ and his legion were given the experimental Canis Helix variant of the Space Marine augmentation (like OG Nobledark Imperium) and Lorgar was transported to Banished as a child (Catholic Paladin MFs!).
• No dickwaving contest over Warmaster, and the Emperor actually tells everyone about Chaos, so no Horus Heresy. Instead, the War of the Beast is given more prominence, with many of the primarch's defining moments taking place therein, like Nobledark.
• First contact with the Eldar leads to an alliance that leads a raid into Nurgle's Mansion in the Realm of Chaos to rescue Isha in return for all sorts of technological and psyker goodies. Imperium is not the xenophobic hellhole, many species are Imperial citizens, and the Mechanicum's "dickslapping the big red button" is not prominent. It's akin to a galaxy-wide Interex done right.
• Chaos Gods are pissed, and turbocharge the War of the Beast with Crone Eldar (while Dark Eldar join in for shits and giggles), replacing the Horus Heresy in fucking over the Imperium of Man. Battle of Terra, Sangy dies, etc.
• Emperor doesn't get perma-rekt because Eldrad Ex Machina, so no Ecclesiarchy (SoB are part of the Catholic Church in this version, fulfills the same functions). Marries Isha at some point because politics.
• Legions generally split into chapters within a few centuries of the War of the Beast.
• Orks, Necrons, Tyranid vanguard (several millennia early) and DEldar are still doing their thing, and Croneworlders are a threat. Few Primarchs left to help put out fires.
• After short indignant protests from both sides, T'au are absorbed into the Imperium after first contact (save for the conservative and xenophobic Farsight Enclaves).
• Tyranid main fleet begins to make galaxyfall.

Well, shit.

Another big change is to the Chaos gods. Slaanesh is not a transvestite faggot abomination in this setting, but a horrifying demonic incubus (the demon) and basically looks like a purple goat-horned version of Mephisto from Marvel crossed with Skaarbrand.

Also, something EXTREMELY DARK is, while only implied in Vanilla, explicitly stated in this setting, is that this world's Lealith, (named Inlana in this world) has been Slannesh's favorite sex toy for 15,000 years.

And to make matters even worse, he didn't just steal her face. He made her watch while he killed everyone she loved, including her husband, and absorbed their power, and then she was made to pathetically beg for her mother to save her, and when Isah, unable to do anything, fled in terror for her life, to eventually be captured by Nurgle, Slannesh licked the tears off of Inlana's face and dragged her off to his palace on the Eldar homeworld to be his sexual plaything for eternity, while getting off on her tears of anguish (he is Slaanesh after all).

Also Tzeentch is the oldest Chaos god, and is revealed to be none other than the devil himself, Tzeentch being the Eldar's name for the Prince of Darkness.

Introduction

It is the 41st millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Eternal Emperor and Empress have been joined in their holy union. He is the last relic of a lost age when Humans still lived solely on their cradle world, in a time of legends and in the distant past, still clinging to his purpose of forging a better future, and she is the last remnant of an ancient pantheon, a mother watching over dying children brought low by their own hubris. Together, they are the Masters and Guardians of Mankind and Eldar, the keepers of the Last Alliance, the embodiments of the Imperium to which a hundred sapient species swear their fealty.

At the core of the Imperium is Humanity, its teeming multitudes ever resilient, stubbornly carving out a future amongst the hostile stars. The greatest of Man’s allies are the Eldar, ancient and wise, their shared bond forged in battle and sealed in blood millennia ago. Since then, others have been judged worthy to join in the light of the Imperium, to stand with Men and Eldar as fellows: the industrious Demiurge, enigmatic Tau, countless strains of Abhumans, and many more.

Yet for all the Imperium’s numbers, it is barely enough to stave off the forces that would tear it down. United under savage Beasts, the Orkish hordes throw themselves at the great edifice of the Imperium. The Necrons are awakening to a changed galaxy, and seeth at the primitives who would dare harbor their greatest foes the Eldar. From the galactic east, the Tyranids have made landfall and sweep over countless worlds in their hungering tide. In the shadows lurk the Dark Eldar, reveling in the carnage of a galaxy at war. And from the Immaterium, the Chaos Gods brood and plot their eternal vengeance, served by the twisted Chaos Eldar.

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold trillions. It is to live in the last bastion of civilization as the darkness draws near. These are the tales of those times. Forget the stories of peace and harmony, for they are fables of a gentler time, when the world still made sense. Remember the stories of struggle and defiance, full of brotherhood and sacrifice, for those are the ones that really matter. Peace is a distant dream growing ever fainter, and there is only war as Men and Eldar hold the line for the promise that has been whispered through the generations, from father to son, from mother to child: that there is good left in the world, and that is worth fighting for.