History FanFic / TheWeaverOption

** Marshal Malberg of the Black Templars is disgusted at the Necron plan to [[KillEmAll destroy the entire Nyx Sector and kill every single lifeform present, down to the last bacteria]].

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The Battle of [[spoiler:Commorragh]] has all the look of this, as Fleet Caribbean manages to invade the [[spoiler:Dark Eldar City]] for the first time ever and proceeds to take revenge for all the [[spoiler:Dark Eldar]] attacks on humanity, [[KillEmAll with interest]]. The presence of several [[AMechByAnyOtherName Knights]] whose families have spent generations ''dreaming'' of this day only reinforces this.

** One of Lelith Hesperax's Wyches was bored and wished for something interesting to happen. Less than 24 hours later, the Eversprings Gate opened.

* {{Conscription}}: Faced with an unprecedented invasion, the rulers of [[spoiler:Commorragh]] resort to conscripting the untrained masses and sending them in massive waves against the enemy.

** Captain Cassius Baccurius of the Ultramarines claims that Taylor and the Adeptus Mechanicus will try to use their discoveries on Bacta to end the Space Marines' independence. A few minutes later, he uses his power as representative of the Ultramarines to declare that none of the Thirteenth Legion's Successor Chapters will be allowed to work with Taylor or anyone allied with her - essentially spitting on their independence. Even worse, the Ultramarines seemingly revere the ''Codex Astartes'', despite Taylor pointing out that they are meant to be suggestions and not strict laws. The Codex is what divided the original Astartes Legions into Chapters, both to ensure flexibility and indepedence among them, and to prevent any one Astartes group from gaining to much power. By forcing the Ultramarines Successor Chapters to follow his orders, isolating to Ultramar and preventing them from doing anything otherwise, Baccurius is going against the very Codex he treats so highly. He is taking away Astartes Chapters' independence, something he accused Taylor of trying to do, and also effectively ''Legionising'' the Ultramarines Chapters, which against both Imperial Law and also against the Codex.

** [[spoiler:During the Raid on Commorragh, the Dark Eldar are forced multiple times into this - particularly as Slaanesh throws in her own attack through Khaine's Gate.]]

** The military operation aimed at attacking [[spoiler:Commorragh]] to destroy its main infrastructure and kill as many [[spoiler:Dark Eldar]] as possible is named [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Pearl Harbor]] - as it begins with a surprise attack on a large port that takes the defenders completely by surprise.

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Taylor offers Nostradamus Vandire a trial and swift execution in exchange of the names of all his co-conspirators and the places where he has stashed all the money he has stolen. When Nostradamus interrupts her and rejects the offer, Taylor reveals the other option: being tortured by the Inquisition [[MortonsFork until he reveals the names of his co-conspirators and the places where he has stashed all the money he has stolen]] - and then becoming the first [[GotVolunteered volunteer]] of the 1st Nyx Pureblood Penal Legion. Nostradamus begs to be allowed to pick option 1 as he's dragged away by the Inquisition.

* PonziScheme: The Ruinous Powers can strengthen themselves through one - due to the loose nature of time in the Warp, they can draw on the power of souls they haven't claimed yet. [[spoiler:This is part of what makes the raid on Commorragh so important - Slaanesh's greatest source of power is the Drukhari and their future victims. With them broken as a major threat, the power it drew from them in the future won't ever exist to be taken, resulting in a paradox that reduces She Who Thirsts from only just behind third place among the Four to the undisputed weakest, with the other three pouncing on its sudden vulnerability. Note, too, that Slaanesh is only just behind Nurgle in the 35th millennia. In the 40th, it would have challenged Khorne for first place, all because of the power flowing from Commorragh.]]

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: If there is something Taylor hates more than rape, is people that use their power to extort sexual favors - and above that, [[WouldHurtAChild people who rape children]]. One Nyx noble that had been doing the latter for ''[[MoralEventHorizon decades]]'' is sent straight away to a long, painful death by hanging.

** The Fay 20th was assigned to an out-of-the-way position, in the expectation that they would probably serve as bait while the "Grand Army" did the job of killing the Orks. Cue the Grand Army getting mauled to the last man, and the Fay 20th -- with the unexpected aid of Taylor - being the one to destroy the Ork army.

* RefugeInAudacity: [[spoiler:Trazyn the Infinite]] requests an audience with Taylor by disguising himself as an archeologist - after[[spoiler: teleporting into the Lower Hive, stealing a number of Menelaus' artwork,]] disguising himself, stunning a Magos to steal his identification, tricking the machine-spirits into slotting an audience for him and putting a monitoring system in a video loop.

* ReluctantRuler: Taylor chooses to accept the Nyx Governorship - but only because she knows that everyone else is dumb, corrupt or both.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: Mikasev orders Fay's SDF to go after a small "pirate ship", a ship that could have been easily handled by a part of the SDF while the rest helped in the defence of Fay. Unknown to him (and everyone else), said "pirate ship" is actually the ship of a Chaos warband, and its destruction strands the warband in Fay - leaving them in the path of the advancing Ork army, which kills them all [[spoiler:and frees a Rubric Marine to do a HeelFaceTurn]].

** Taylor commissions a new species of insect for the Battle of Commorragh - Titanicus Sancta Weaverian Mosura, or, in translation, Saint Weaver's Titan Film/{{Mothra}}.

** The Last Ultramarine only appears at the end of the first chapter of Arc 1 and has five lines. His actions ensure that Taylor is brought to the 40k universe without being corrupted by Chaos - allowing her to become a hero of the Imperium.

* SuicidalPacifism: The Naiads, slug-like creatures that somehow know how to speak in Low Gothic, want to establish peaceful relations with all the species in the galaxy - including the Dark Eldar that enslaved and tortured them for likely a long time. Taylor wonders what they have been smoking to think they have a chance.

** [[spoiler:Colonel Larkine]] is mortally injured by the Biel-Tan, but he pulls out a plasma grenade and detonates it, killing six Eldar - one of them a High Farseer.

* TimeStandsStill: Lorgar uses a powerful ritual to ''put the entirety of Sicarus'' in temporal stasis for the duration of the Black Crusade - more accurately, either until he returns or he dies. [[spoiler:When Malal ascends to godhood by coopting Lorgar's ritual at Fenris, Sicarus is freed]].

** Leet is ''very'' lucky that Taylor is still willing to keep him alive in case he comes up with something useful - because otherwise he would already be dead meat.

** When the Dawnbreaker Guard assaults the palace of a noble who tried to have Taylor killed, he (somehow) sneaks around them and uses a gargoyle as a battering ram to bring the main gate down before Taylor even finished giving the order - while [[LargeHam hamming it up]].

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Taylor's enemies tend to do this. They never learn the lesson - because they die.

** Objective A is the destruction of the maximum amount of Eldar space infrastructure - achieved via the destruction of Port Carmine, Port Shard, and the Port of Lost Souls[[note]]And, in all practicality, all of Commoragh[[/note]].
** Objective B is the death of Urien Rakarth - [[spoiler:He ascends to Daemonhood, but Taylor then bribes the Queen of Blades to kill him for her.]]

** Objective D is the death of Drazhar[[note]]Revealed to actually be [[spoiler: Arhra, the first Striking Scorpions Phoenix Lord]][[/note]] - personally carried out by Taylor herself.

** In Decision 5.4, Trazyn gives her an equally dangerous gift - a canister containing a first generation progenoid gland... from the [[Characters/Warhammer40000ChaosMarines Emperor's Children]]. Later, it's revealed that [[spoiler:this is only one of more than ''seventeen and a half thousand'' glands, enough to create an entire legion, a price that the Third Legion would burn entire sectors to gain.]]

* WantedPoster: While preparing to raid Pavia, the wanted poster for each of the pirate captains is displayed, in order of increasing bounty. Calico is wanted ''Alive'' only while ''seven'' of the other captains are wanted ''Dead'' only. Several more are shown during the Battle of Commorragh to demonstrate how dangerous various individuals are, ranging from Lelith Hesperax being the 13th most wanted of the Imperium to Asdrubael Vect being the 100th, though one of them is highly inaccurate - Lelith Hesperax is likely even '''more''' dangerous than the poster suggests[[note]]And the recommended force level for taking her down on the wanted poster is a Primarch backed by his ''entire Legion''. Yes, '''LEGION''', not Chapter. Her poster in the aftermath of the Battle of Commorragh bumps her up to number ''11'', and the suggestions for how to stop her boil down to RunOrDie[[/note]]. First on the list is Abaddon the Despoiler, and it also contains, among others, Fabius Bile and Ahriman the Sorcerer. That Lelith is no higher than 11th is due to other considerations than her direct lethality.

* WonTheWarLostThePeace: What Taylor identifies as one of the Imperium's troubles - whenever a victory is won, the people in charge waste their efforts in trying to plunder the local economies and spreading their influence, rather than trying to improve the situation and give new strength to the planets and the people.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Cyrene agrees to work for Taylor under several conditions. One of these is that, should she ever meet the Emperor, she must ask what the hell he was thinking when ordering the [[spoiler:destruction of Monarchia and the humiliation of the Seventeenth Legion]]. Taylor agrees immediately - she was thinking of doing the exact same thing.

** The first travels to Nyx on a ship owned by an Astrogator clan that is dabbling in piracy targeted at the Astrogator clan with the primary contract for Nyx shipping - which runs into an Astartes anti-piracy campaign. The assassin ends up an incidental casualty without even reaching the Nyx system.

* BaitAndSwitchComment: When Inquisitor Tor states that he is sending Lady Weaver warning about Matapan's incoming secession attempt, one inquisitor mentions that this will lead to her destroying the Matapan nobility and forming dozens of Penal Legions. Another inquisitor protests the idea - given that Matapan only has a million nobles at best, she won't be able to form more than four Penal Legions.

** Sliscus advises Hoth to consider suicide over being captured by the Imperium. Sliscus had previously witnessed an Imperial execution that lasted ten days - and that man hadn't committed a ''tenth'' of the crimes Hoth had.

* CoolSword: The Swords of Vaul, a set of one hundred incredibly powerful blades forged by the Eldar smith god Vaul for the war god Khaine circa the War in Heaven. Most have gone missing in the eons since - even the Eldar aren't sure where 90% of them are. The ones to have appeared are:

** Shrax'lor, the Blade of the Abyss (5th Sword of Vaul). When drawn, it drains energy from everything in the surrounding area - including its wielder. Owned and wielded by [[spoiler:Sliscus]] until his death, then claimed by Weaver, who has no intention of using it herself.

** Chapter Master of the Iron Drakes Dupleix versus Trazyn the Infinite. The former does not even reach the latter before getting blasted away and paralyzed - although fortunately without injuries beyond his ego.

** The fight between Sophia's mentor and Iphigenia Frost. Sophia had expected to see an Assassin-versus-Assassin duel. What she got was a one-sided humilliation.
** The first large scale battle of the dragon-armor against Heldrakes results in a ''ninety to one'' kill ratio against one of Chaos' most dreaded war machines. Upon learning of it, the dark forge worlds realize that without a counter, the previously unstoppable Heldrake just became totally obsolete.

** Leet was given a space lab to work in - and made it explode in record time. Even the Tech-Priests are stumped on how he did it.

* ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask: Taylor, much like in canon, can direct the efforts of millions of insects at the same time, only that here she can do it across a battlefield that is several kilometers wide - and all while she is personally fighting and directing her army.

** Taylor's arrival allows the Fay 20th to hold Ramev's Pass against the Orks, which likely stops that Ork warband from inflicting tens of millions if not billions of casualties before it was stopped in the original history - Eldar farsight held that the Warboss of that horde would have devastated ''at least'' three other planets before being stopped.

*** The Lamenters Chapter, formerly the Sons of Sanguinius Chapter, are sent by Taylor to Tigrus on a Penitent Crusade, allowing them to be the key force in destroying Boss Gruffjaw and his Space Hulk before it can destroy Tigrus, destablising the Waaagh and saving the Forge World and the system.
** The Battle of Pavia eliminates the thirteen largest pirate fleets in the Rimward Segmentum Pacificus, and includes among the spoils [[spoiler:the [[KillItWithFire Gauntlet of the Forge]] and the [[TankGoodness Obsidian Chariot]], two of the nine Artifacts of Vulkan believed by the Salamanders and their Successor Chapters to contain clues on how to find their missing Primarch - the first found on 722.M41, the second still missing as of M42 in the original timeline.]]

** At the end of the Arrival Arc, there's a scene where a Librarian of the Death Strike Chapter makes a tarot reading to ascertain the future of the Nyx Sector - and the cards predict several events of the Peril, Sentinel and Escalation Arcs.

** The Biel-Tan are generally treated with disgust and contempt by the other Eldar Craftworlds for their very aggressive nature and xenocidal campaign of restoring their empire that would only create further harm to their species (among other things, an obsession with retaking systems the Eldar abandoned millennia ago that they don't have the resources to hold - or do anything with, for that matter - even if they succeed in doing so). [[spoiler:Eldrad Ulthran even express his regret of the deaths of Vyrion Kaeran and his brethren because it was not at ''his'' hands.]] After the catastrophic [[spoiler:Battle of Commorragh]], the Biel-Tan are irreparably sullied in the eyes of the Eldar Craftworlds that did not participate in the battle and are left to fend for themselves against the inevitable Imperium retaliation.

** It was bad enough that the Imperial Forces have to land on an [[spoiler:Ork Battle Moon]] and fight [[spoiler:an Ork WAAAAGH!]]. Then [[spoiler:the Biel-Tan Eldar]] sent a group to attack them after their previous defeat. And then [[spoiler:a Chaos fleet]] arrived - led by [[spoiler:Greater Daemon Ka'Bandha.]]

** Taylor is informed that Arrgard the Defiler is building a massive WAAGH!, made of '''billions''' of Orks, for the sole purpose of fighting her. However, she doesn't have enough soldiers to properly defend against it, and the soldiers she does have are already dealing with other conflicts and/or are in desperate need of retraining and rebuilding. And then she's told that the WAAGH! will likely attack her by the end of the year. ''Then'' two Astartes have an encounter with [[spoiler:Fallen Angel Cypher]], who, among many things, sends two warnings - one regarding the Ymga Monolith (Taylor's current target of interest), and to beware the Word Bearers. Sure enough, a couple chapters earlier had Daemon-Primarch Lorgar preparing to launch a Chaos Invasion on the level of ''a Black Crusade'' with the goal to break through Cadia and go kill Taylor. '''[[RuleOfThree Then]]''' Trazyn finds out that [[spoiler:Orikan has informed the Throne of Oblivion, AKA the Ymga Monolith, a Necron installation so heavily defended that it was never successfully invaded during the ''War in Heaven'', about Trazyn and Neferten's dealings with Taylor and their plans to go against the Silent King's commands. And now it is preparing to wipe them and their allied planets off the galactic map]] Oh, and Lorgar? He enlisted the help of Fazar’nzlath’hesh, the False Daemon-Primarch that Taylor bested, Lucius the Eternal, several dozen Chaos Marine Warbands, ''Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal'' of the Dark Mechanicum, and '''[[SorcerousOverlord his brother, Magnus the Red]]'''. The Fifth Black Crusade is coming.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat:
** This is the Imperium where planets are lost because of ''rounding errors'' and where planets of bureaucrats are in civil war because they are running out of space for all the records. Taylor, of course, ends up encountering a few too many of them, which only gets worse after Xerxes Vandire becomes head of the Administratum.

* NumerologicalMotif: Since this is Warhammer, you get the expected Sacred Numbers like "9", "8", "7", and "6" for each of the Chaos Gods, including [[spoiler:"11" for Malal and the Skaven]], and "12" for the Mechanicus and "10" for the Emperor. However, the Necrons are also given a Sacred Number, "15", though nobody can understand why they consider it Important; the explanation given was that, although not a prime number, at some 'higher levels of quantum resonance the energy transfers enter dimension-symbiosis'. Again, nobody understands why.

* BigEntrance: Trazyn the Infinite makes his first introduction to Taylor and the Fay 20th with orchestra music, phalanxes of Necron troops in parade formation, and a herald making a speech to list off Trazyn's titles and accomplishments.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** The reason why Weaver is so hugely popular among the masses? She's a doer, while politicians are only talkers.
** In spite of becoming a Living Saint, Taylor still has paperwork to fill out. And political debates to navigate.
*** As a newly minted noble, most of the long-standing noble lines view Taylor as an upstart commoner despite her many achievements.
** No, Odysseus Tor isn't the only Inquisitor assigned to Nyx. The workload is such that he needs thirteen colleagues, and they're still stretched thin.
** Operation Caribbean's complete victory shows the difference between a properly prepared and led military fleet versus a loose coalition of various pirates. A good portion of the pirates ends up dying in a suicidal rush to engage with the Imperium while the other fleets fall one-by-one.
** When one of Sliscus's subordinates muses it's unfortunate they don't have insecticide handy, he points out that Taylor's array of insects obviously originates from multiple different worlds. Even if they had insecticide on hand it would ''maybe'' affect one or two species.
** Even if the Warp is twisted like a pretzel when it comes down to time and space, it still has to obey the laws of causality. [[spoiler:So, when the Raid on Commorragh begins to destroy the source of the large source of power that were the Dark Eldar for Slaanesh, it begins to lose the power it drew from the Drukhari's future victims, causing a paradox that erases millions of daemons from existence.]]
** The Biel-Tan forces are so obsessed with the idea of finally killing Taylor that they let the chance blind them to the reality that the Drukhari are unlikely to see them as saviors and more like expendable troops. Sure enough, when the Biel-Tan fleet enters Commorragh, the local defenders send them to the meatgrinder at Port Shard - straight into the waiting Necrons and their captured C'tan.
** The [[spoiler:raid on Commorragh]] brings out the worst in the Drukhari. The Dynasts kill commanders who fail in battle meaning whatever lessons they might have gleaned from defeat are lost. Soldiers turn on one another because they have been taught to seize any chance for advancement. Forces equipped to fight slaves die in droves against soldiers with actual armor and weapons.
*** Similarly, Chaos' ChronicBackstabbingDisorder comes up [[spoiler:as Slaanesh gets piled on by the others due to the sudden weakness it has just revealed, taking everything she might have and critically distracting her and her troops while they are still trying to kill the Imperial forces attacking Commorragh.]]
** When a call is sent to all Imperial forces to assist in the [[spoiler:raid on Commorragh]] very few are actually able to do so. Readying a ship or army to deploy is impossible in the [[ExtremelyShortTimespan short time available]], meaning only ships that were already prepped and en route to different battles are able to join the assault.
*** On the other hand, the [[spoiler:craftworld Eldar are able to use their Webway gates]] to deploy multiple fleets and armies with minimal delay in support of [[spoiler:Commorragh]].
** One of the secondary objectives of the [[spoiler:Invasion of Commorragh]] is to capture or kill Aurelia Malys... who at the time is a complete unknown currently enslaved to Asdrubael Vect. With no means to distinguish her from the billions of Eldar that are fighting or running away, no one is able to find her in time before she escapes.
** The Adeptus Almitas require some form of proof when a bounty is claimed. As such when Taylor claims the bounties for Tanaka and Moonblitz, whose bodies were respectively destroyed and vaporized, the Adeptus initially authorizes only a pittance of a payout.
*** When Xerxes Vandire demands the Almitas not pay ''any'' of the bounties, his demands are summarily dismissed because (a) he does not have any legal standing and (b) if the Imperium's not willing to pay the promised bounties, why would anyone risk hunting them?
** The enormous amount of plunder found in Pavia [[spoiler:and Commorragh]], as well as the sizeable bounties from killing several beings in the Imperium's "Most Wanted" list, might lead to hyperinflation in Nyx due to the sudden influx of money. Fortunately, Dragon seems to have a plan the Mechanicus agrees with.

* PyrrhicVillainy: The fic opens with Chaos on the verge of final victory over the Imperium only for the arrival of the Tyranids to crush their forces. The endless war between the Imperium and Chaos had exhausted the galaxy to the point that there was no longer a force capable of resisting the Hive Fleets.

* FutureBadass: Taylor is and was already a badass at the start of the story but the various documents written by people indicate that Taylor's deeds and accomplishments are going to take this trope UpToEleven and beyond.

* HatedByAll: Erebus "The Vile One" of the Word Bearers Legion. The only reason he remains alive is an unholy combination of an UpToEleven ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and the protection of Lorgar and the Chaos Gods. Not even his fellow Word Bearers can stand him, [[spoiler:and Khârn the Betrayer is willing to help the Imperium in the Battle of Macragge just for the chance to murder Erebus and take his skulll and soul. Even the Word Bearers survivors consider his death "good news"]].

** Reinhard von Lohengramm and his friend/subordinate Siegfried Kircheis come from Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes

** Paristur is the only member of the Word Bearers Dark Council even trying to make the plans for their Black Crusade follow any sort of military logic at a strategic of tactical level. Unfortunately for him, everyone else is so focused on religion that they prioritize honoring their god or gods over actually winning the war they're fighting in the god's name, and because field command was given to Erebus, he can't make anyone listen to him.

** The Sixth Endbringer is only mentioned in that the Inquisition is "still trying to figure out what it actually is". This ''may'' indicate that it is [[spoiler:the Simurgh]], something that the Imperium would find utterly alien.[[note]]Of course, it could also indicate that it's the Tyranids, something that the Imperium only loosely even know to exist.[[/note]]

** Taylor, through the use of the Catachan yellow ant queen, ends up creating a number of variants of a healing gel substance named "[[Franchise/StarWars Bacta]]"

* INeedAFreakingDrink: In the aftermath of [[spoiler:Commorragh's destruction and the death of Slaanesh]], Eldrad decides to get royally drunk.

** After Slaanesh begins moving its Legions to [[spoiler: Commorragh]] in an attempt to halt the disastrous defeat of the [[spoiler: Drukhari]], the others begin moving against it. The first to attack is Khorne, sending [[spoiler: Ka'Bandha]] and a full eight hundred and eighty-eight Blood Legions to attack, as well as [[spoiler: Skarbrand, Doombreed AND Kharne]]. Tzeentch, noticing how Slaanesh is losing badly, sends its own Scintillating Legions against the Palace of Slaanesh. And finally, Nurgle, having previously decided to intervene and prevent the possible saving of Fulgrim's soul, commits fully and sends the Death Guard and seven hundred and seventy-seven Plague Legions, led by seven Great Unclean Ones.

** '''Nobody''' likes Erebus. [[spoiler:In chapter 54, when Erebus is attacked and severely wounded by Catachan guardsmen and Weaver's spiders after gloating over backstabbing Lotara Sarrin, Kharn eagerly cuts off his skull and enslaves the monster's soul to it at the first opportunity and genuinely compliments the Imperium's victory over him. Hell, even the ''other Word Bearers'' are delighted to hear about Erebus' victory.]]

** '''Nobody''' likes Erebus.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: For all that he was irredeemably corrupt and evil, even Nostradamus Vandire never stooped so low as to sexually abuse children.

* MotorMouth: The ''Araneidae Gigantis Nyxian Amazonia Hebert'' are giant, excitable, talking spiders with a prosperity for saying too much. It should be noted they do not speak normally but communicate telepathically with other spiders which act as vox-operators, meaning everything they say is reviewed by at least two members of their species before being spoken.