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1''Imperium Ascendant'' by Jayfiction is a ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' fanfiction where the scattering of the Primarchs by the Chaos Gods is prevented.
2
3It can also be found on [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/imperium-ascendant-heresy-less-40k.596194/ Spacebattles.com]] and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12741827/1/Imperium-Ascendant on Fanfiction.net]]. Later, it was continued [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/imperium-ascendant-redux-a-continuation-of-a-heresy-less-40k.968339/?post=79196660#post-79196660/ here]], after the author decided to quit because of Games Workshop policies.
4----
5!!''Imperium Ascendent'' provides examples of:
6* AbsoluteXenophobe: {{Averted|Trope}} by the Imperium this time around -- while the Imperium has obvious reservations about working with aliens, it appears that the Emperor is willing to incorporate some species in as protectorates, albeit on a case-by-case scenario. One of the Xenos species considered for compliance is the Trileen (space trilobites).
7* AdaptationalBadass:
8** The Emperor was already a powerful force to be reckoned with in canon, but for all his intelligence and power, he could only do so much against the Ruinous Powers and was helpless to do anything as the empire he once forged become a perversion of everything he believed in. In this story, upon [[spoiler: receiving an immense power boost from his future self, increasing his already immense psychic powers, the Emperor was able to do a ''lot'' more damage to the Ruinous Powers. Upon lighting the Astronomicon, he was able to seal various warp rifts, has a farther reach and was able to ''push back the main gods of the Immaterium'', even going as far as to reduce their threat level by having the Angel go through a warp rift during the Lunar Rebellion, allowing him access into the darkest depths of the Warp where the Chaos Gods resided and ''caused significant damage to them by both exposing the weaknesses of their domains to each other and creating new ones in them, causing all four of them to break their already fragile alliance and focus on attacking each other due to their nature'']]. For context, the canon version of the Emperor, despite being empowered by the Great Rift and millions of people praying to him, can barely pull himself together to talk to anyone and is a slowly dying corpse on the Golden Throne while the IA!Emperor is not only more active, but having been given a massive boost in power that allows him to have an easier time in beating back the Ruinous Powers.
9** The Primarchs grow up to be more well-adjusted due to having a caring Emperor as their father along with the Assa-Matari, giving each Primarch a reliable parental figure to attach themselves to causing them to be more well-adjusted and heroic. The Emperor also removed the maturation enhancers which allowed each of them to have a proper childhood and slowly transition into an adult. Each Primarch even possesses unique powers of their own which they had no problem utilizing. This is a far cry from the canon Primarchs, who grew up way too quickly and was forced to adapt to their environment to survive, while also having a myriad neuroses and psychological issues that's not addressed which partially factors into the Horus Heresy. The Ascendant!Emperor lampshades this, calling the canon versions transhuman children in adult bodies.
10** Even the Imperium of Man itself gets one thanks to the Emperor being aware of just how bad things got in the far future. Unlike in canon, where a citizen is unaware of Chaos, the citizens of the Imperium knows all about the threat of the Ruinous Powers and have been taught to not fall to their temptation. While they will inevitably face off against the various threats that can threaten the Imperium's stability, it's implied that it will stand strong and prosper, never falling into the highly religious dogmatic empire wracked with willful ignorance and paranoia.
11** Unfortunately, the enemies they've had to fight are also more dangerous as their fights with the Orks isn't just a one-sided ass kicking and are putting up a much larger fight in comparison to the canon Great Crusade. The Rangda's influence has also effectively spread and Chaos still remains a credible threat, not to mention other potential Xeno species that can threaten mankind due to the Imperium not launching the Great Crusade as early as originally planned.
12* AdaptationalJerkass: {{Downplayed}}. The Aeldari as a whole has already been involved with numerous conflicts with the Imperium, and many of them don't really view humanity in a positive light (there ''is'' a reason they call humans 'Mon-Keigh' after all), but both sides are just trying to survive and conflicts only happen if they cross paths with each other, and they have been able to pull off an EnemyMine if there's a bigger threat involved. In this story, the Aeldari is actively trying to hinder the Ascendant!Imperium thanks to Cegorach, with there bring rumors of him forming an alliance consisting of all Eldars from various factions in an attempt to hinder humanity's rise to power.
13* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
14** The Emperor of Mankind gets a huge dose of this. Thanks to [[spoiler: seeing just how bad things get partially because of his actions, he sought to try and avert and mistakes made in the canon timeline, with treating all of his sons like how a father would in contrast to the 40k!Emperor where he allowed the Primarchs to call him "father" as a way to manipulate them for his own ends]]. While still a person who would do what needs to be done, he knows the gravity of the crimes he's going to commit and feels genuine remorse, but feels that there's no other way, in contrast to the canon Emperor who's more ruthless and having a lack of empathy towards almost everyone. The only few people who are even very close to him are Malcador the Sigilite and Constantin Valdor, and even the fandom is rather suspicious if the Emperor actually viewed them as such due to being a cold and logical figure.
15** Any of the Primarchs who canonically sides with Chaos get inevitably hit with this due to being more well-adjusted and heroic by having a proper childhood.
16** The Imperium of Man itself is also this due to the Emperor being more active and thus has more say in how his rule will become, along with having a ''severe'' case of BreakTheHaughty upon witnessing how fall he would've fallen. While there are still some morally grey areas (i.e. brutal treatment of xenos and psykers, justified are they are due to the danger they possess), it never reaches the level of dystopia the canon version turns out. The Emperor seeks to take the aspects of what made the 40k!Imperium survive without any of the flaws.
17* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul:
18** The Emperor's relationship with the Primarchs. Since all 20 of them didn't get snatched up by the Ruinous Powers, it allowed him to develop something of a familial bond to all of them, with the Emperor even musing how much he missed his sons while he was away on Mars. A stark contrast to canon, to which he tended to pick a favorite, with Horus being deemed as the favored son and how Guilliman claims the Emperor viewed less of them as people and more as tools to be used.
19** The Emperor's relationship with Uriah Olathaire goes into this as well. In canon, Uriah rejected the Emperor's vision and called him a madman, refusing to join the Imperium and even willingly killed himself. In this story, Uriah is one of the Emperor's closest confidants and allies. It also helped that the Ascendant!Emperor didn't try and destroy his beliefs, but instead asked for his advice.
20** The Primarchs' relationship with each other also counts, since they all grew up, fought and learned together on Terra, any form of rivalry was more friendly opposed to how violent some of them were in canon.
21* AdaptationExpansion: The fates of the Second and Eleventh Primarchs in the Canon timeline are revealed inside story information.
22* AlphaStrike:
23** The Chaos Gods decide to throw everything and the Kitchen Sink as the Ascendant!Imperium begins its crusade during the Lunar War, which very nearly succeeded.
24** Likewise, since the Astronomicon covers all but the furthest edges of the galaxy, any areas the Chaos Gods can reach, they corrupt '''hard'''.
25* AllThereInTheManual: There are side story notes which give background information to the Canon and Ascendant timelines.
26* ANaziByAnyOtherName:
27** How the Khrave Rangda twist human planets to their bidding.
28** Also found left and right in the Age of Strife. The Ethnarchy was by far the worst.
29* ArtisticLicensePhysics: 40k has always been pretty soft Sci-Fi. Even so, the weaponized Alcubierre drive is out there.
30* AtLeastIAdmitIt: How The Emperor differentiates his scheming from Cegorach, [[spoiler: The Trickster and the Last Old One]].
31** Overall, this is what separates him from his canon counterpart. While it’s likely that the 40k version of the Emperor also heard arguments against him, he was thoroughly convinced of his own righteousness and expected people to bend to his will, with only a few people even being able to actually call him out and get away with it. The Ascendant!Emperor, on the other hand, is well aware of the gravity of the crimes he has and will commit for the sake of the Imperium and actually explains things to his sons about why he chose a certain course of action and being able to understand his mindset better. While still someone who holds a lot of secrets, this Emperor is more open to his sons and actually treats them like his kids as opposed to viewing himself as a Gepetto-like figure having puppets under his command.
32* BatmanGambit: Eldrad tried to pull one on Magnus, using the Emperor's secretive nature against him in an attempt to have Magnus go along with his plans. [[spoiler: Except Magnus saw what he was planning and instead Eldrad got strung along]].
33* BerserkButton: One of the few things that angers The Emperor is mentioning what happened on Moloch.
34* BioAugmentation: Not losing the Primarchs at the start, along with having the God-Emperor's "Research Notes" from the future, allows the Astartes to have implants that make them even better than [[SuperiorSuccessor Primaris Marines]]. For Gene-seed alone they instead ''24'' of them; the original 19 gene-seeds of the original Astartes, the extra 3 gene-seeds of the Primaris, and another gene-seed (the Dohrnii Drive) that coats the nerves in a non-interfering mapping polymer, gathering biological data and transmitting it back to the drive. It's meant to help with mutation issues (whether from Chaos, random genetic quirks, or other mutagens), and tweaks some of the other Organs in new ways, such as messing with stem cells to allow faster regeneration and even limb/organ regrowth. The final 24th Gene-seed is, however, unique to each Legion, as the Implant is a miniaturisation of the genetic-gifts of the Legion's Primarch:
35** The I Legion have ''"The Prince's Tears"'', which modifies the Ventricular system and Dohrnii Drive to create a psycho-reactive compound that allow an Astartes to store behaviour, reflex and muscle memory into their cerebrospinal fluid, bone marrow or Progenoid Glands. Thus, whether it be by gene-implantation or fluid transfer, new Astartes can inherit the basic skill and talent of older, experienced Astartes.
36** The II Legion have ''"The Thrumonyx System"'', which connects and modifies the Sus-an Membrane, Larraman's Organ and Mucranoid gene-seeds. This allows the Astartes to produce a hybrid quick clotting, low temperature conductive, chemically and biologically resistant black gel known as "Thurmonyx" (or Onyx) in large quantities to close wounds and protect tissue from the vacuum of space, allowing these Astartes to survive in hard vacuum for far longer than other Legions. The chemical process to create this Thurmonyx, while energy-intensive, also produces oxygen as a byproduct, allowing Astartes with damaged life-support systems to function within the vacuum, and the use of Thurmonyx cells prepares the body for Sus-an suspension if needed so the Astartes can still fight and remain active until they are safe or need to hibernate. Finally, the gene-seed modifies the Sus-an Membrane to give off small amounts of an specific, unique radiation when it is activated, becoming a form of locator for Imperial Sensors to find Astartes lost in space for either rescues or Gland extraction.
37** The III Legion have ''"The Phoenix Feather"'', which is a bunch of artificial nerves added to the spinal cord and connected to their nervous system that enhances it beyond normal Astartes standards. This allows the Astartes increased reaction times and enhanced skill with their senses, as well as causing new nervous tissue growth to handle faster internal communication and enhanced senses, drastically improving their swordplay and stewardship skills and making them the fastest and most alert Astartes on average. It does have a downside, however, as increasing the number of nerves and their sensitivity makes the Astartes more affected by pain due to a lower tolerance, and they can still go into Shock or similar states with enough trauma.
38** The IV Legion have ''"The Gorod Marrow"'', which arguments the Astartes' bone marrow to drastically increase the production of stem cells and blood, and grants them a Primarch's level of regeneration. This allows them to heal from wounds that would put other Astartes out for weeks and months within a fraction of the time. Finally, this gene-seed also accelerates the growth of Progenoid Glands, allowing this Legion to produce and mature them not only faster, but also in greater numbers. Overall, the gene-seed allows the Legion to maintain their numbers either through healing veterans or by rapidly producing recruits.
39** The V Legion have the "Warhawk's Vision", which replaces their eyes and optical nerves and connects and upgrades the Occulobe implant. Using transhuman cellular tissue and cybernetic sensory apparatus, this enhances the already superhuman vision of Astartes to new levels, providing augmented vision superior to anything of similar size. Legion V Astartes without helmets can see with accuracy and focus on par to their cousins using weapon targeting arrays. While the enhanced kinetic vision, infrared detection, and rapid adjustment could be accomplished by armor-systems, the Impant streamlines and accelerates the connections and efficiency of the optic nerve shaving off crucial microseconds of reaction time and visual adaptation, and allowing for levels of visual acuity at a high velocity not thought possible. As a side effect, it changes the appearance of Astartes to those of birds of prey.
40** The VI Legion have the "Vargaz", a complicated sub-system linked to the other existing gene-seed; more specifically, it is a number of mutagen cocktails, mega-stimulants, rejuvenus chems and psi-reactive materials bonded to the Revitalizer, Omophagea, Biscopea, and Larraman's Organ. The Vargaz becomes active when one of three conditions occur: Extreme physical trauma like the normal Revitalizer Organ, ingestion of mutagen laced animal-blood sourced from their bestial gene origin, or exposure to large quantities of Warp Energy. When active, the Vargaz awakens the latent bestial traits and DNA within the Astartes, turning them into near-hybrid of transhuman and animal, and causing a extreme increase in physical prowess, regeneration, and resistance to other mutations. While very primal and viscous, the Legion still retain their reason within this state. However, exiting the Vargaz state is very traumatising to their bodies and souls, and if they are forced to spend months on end as a Vargaz or fail to master their baser instincts, then they'll become little more than animals.
41** The VII Legion have the "Ossuaric Forge", which modifies the Ossmodula gene-seed. The Ossuaric Forge grants the Astartes' the ability to produce mineralized tissue of much higher quality, causing their bones to develop as much denser and stronger than other Legions' Astartes. Additionally, the much stronger bones allow for muscle growth that would be too much for even Astartes, causing the VII Legion to build beyond superhuman muscle density and gifting them a variety of advancements to their physical prowess. Furthermore, these augments to the bone and muscular system only increase with age as the augmentation works deeper into the Astartes tissue, with some of the oldest Astartes to have bones and muscle stronger than many industrial metals. Finally, the Ossuaric Forge allows for the metabolization of more exotic materials, such as Auramite. Consuming a specially prepared sample will cause the auramite to graft on either the sinew coils or bones of the Astartes, enhancing either muscle or bone to levels comparable to a Custodes.
42** The VIII Legion have the "Kronos Lobe", an organ requiring natural psychic aptitude to be implanted without issue, and thus so tricky and difficult to implant that a majority of the Legion only have damaged versions of it. Attached the Corpus Callosum in the brain, those with damaged versions of the organ receive "flickers" of incredible awareness and the ability to perceive time in a way humans had not evolved to do so. This extra-temporal ability grants the Legion's Astartes flashes of insight and seizures of foresight, showcasing bits of precognition that can allow them react and act with supernatural speed and luck. If the Astartes possess the psychic power and strength of will needed for the organ to be undamaged, then they become part of the "''Solomonari''" role of the Legion. These Astartes have access to incredible precognitive powers and extra-sensory awareness even greater than the strongest seers. The precognition is unique among other types in that it doesn't show multiple futures, but rather only the current future; what things are going to occur unless something interferes. Use of this organ, both damaged and intact, take a great mental toll on the Astartes.
43** The IX Legion have "Gabrielian Joints" - Biomechanical Wing stumps that include the organic changes to support and use the extra pair of limbs in a myriad ways. Though easily the most common attachment is a pair of metallic alloy wings which gives the Astartes the power of limited flight, artillery and scouting attachments have been made use of by various organizations within the legion to become a more effective implement of their Primarch’s will.
44** The X Legion have the "Steel Carapace", an upgraded version of the Black Carapace that lets Astartes better link with their technology and each other, making them smarter, faster,and more accurate when operating technology.
45** The XI Legion have the Anathemic Liver, an additional liver that filters their body and laces their bodily fluids with anathemic properties, gradually seeping into their tissues as well. This organ not only helps the XI Legion in performing anti-Chaotic rituals, but any daemon foolish enough to try and consume the flesh of a Soul Hunter will join their foe in death, while any cult that tries to use captured Soul Hunters as sacrifices will find their blood is much more of a danger to them than it is to the Imperium. This also has the side effect of making the flesh of any Soul Hunter over a century old entirely poisonous - something the XI Legion exploits by cremating fallen Soul Hunters with more than a century of service, and using their ashes to coat, line, or even infuse various pieces of equipment used in their anti-Warp operations.
46** The XII Legion have the "Warhound's Leash", which forges a chain of both chemical and psychic nature between the Astartes. Each individual Phalanx becomes a unified pack bound to its Captain, who is bound to his commanding officer, and so on and so forth, all the way up to their Primarch. This network of pheromonal and psychic links also greatly enhances their coordination, with the entire Legion fighting as a singular macro-unit with virtually the same level of coordination as a single Phalanx.
47** The Legion of ''"The Silver Knights"'' (this timeline's version of the Grey Knights) are this up to eleven, as they instead have gene-seed hybridisation of ''all Twenty Primarchs'', picking out the strongest anti-Chaos qualities of each and then further enhanced by the Emperor. The Legion is also lead by Eight "Super-Astartes", Perpetuals born from "The Angel's" power, who is the prototype of a Primarch's Soul and an Avatar of Mankind, allowing them to regenerate from any wound and not be killed by most means. These Eight were created by the Emperor to fulfil their lack of a Primarch, using a improved hybrid creation method between the Custodes' and Astartes' creation processes along with the souls of fallen heroes. These Eight "Lord Paladins" are inferior to the Primarchs' might, but still possess immense psychic power and knowledge from hundreds of dead Astartes.
48*** As for the Astartes themselves, they possess ''"The Ghost Heart"'', a Warp crystal of the highest quality that is created from the Emperor's Anathema psychic power that are crafted into a psionic anchor and implanted into their primary heart. This bonds with their muscle tissues and increases the Silver Knights' psychic powers, along with granting them the ability to see and use the souls of the deceased in the Warp not consumed by Chaos to fuel their spells and rituals, in addition to protecting them from going mad when doing so and granting them great control over calling the spirits. It also collects souls of those worthy of joining the Emperor, turning them into spirit familiars to serve the Silver Knights until death, after which the saved souls join the Astronomicon.
49* BizarreAlienBiology: The Rangda in this story are revealed to be a type of sentient fungi, and can take on forms that do not match those of any creature on Earth.
50* BlingOfWar: The Emperor wears very posh Military gear when not on the battlefield and in his "Revelation" guise.
51* BothSidesHaveAPoint: The argument and ethics over what to do with the Xenos species boils down to this. The Emperor advocates the elimination of all nonhuman species because they can be considered a potential threat to be exploited by Chaos and other anti-Imperium factions, with the stakes being especially higher since both the Imperium and the Xenos + Chaos TookALevelInBadass. On the other hand, some of the Primarchs like Magnus advocate for allowing some of them (that is, those that aren't a Tyranid, Ork, Rangda or any other alien species with a desire to use humanity as its food source or slave) into the Imperium as vassal states, justifying that it's not their place to decide the fates of those who have yet to commit any tangible crime against them. Eventually, the Emperor agrees to let his sons wage war how they wish, but warns them of potential consequences.
52* BreakTheHaughty: Ascendant!Magnus gets a brutal lesson in humility due to his over-reliance on Warp Powers, by being forced to fight a Sister of Silence, who is given full permission to kill the young Primarch if need be. It's {{deconstructed}} in that while it ''does'' work in breaking Ascendant!Magnus' pride, the methods used disturbs the Emperor greatly as he could end up losing one of his beloved sons if things went wrong. The Emperor decides to prevent this from happening again by making it so that if someone wants to do something similar, they would have to receive explicit permission from himself or Malcador.
53** The Emperor has been hit with this, realizing just how much he messed up upon seeing what he'll become in the future. Fortunately, his attempts at rectifying his mistakes didn't go for naught as he was able to properly raise all 20 Primarchs and give them a childhood, allowing them to show UndyingLoyalty to their father and effectively cripple any leverage Chaos has against them.
54** The Eldar has also been repeatedly hit with this. In their attempts to antagonize the Imperium of Man and bring them down a peg, it's usually the former who ends up biting the dust with little to show for it. It's gotten to the point where they're even willing to collaborate with the ''Orks'' just to give them a chance of fighting back, and even then their plans tend to fail more often than not. It's also pretty telling that the Mark of '''Khaine''', the Aeldari god of war, is also fused with Baraca and it doesn't even seem like he's doing anything to actively sabotage his efforts.
55* ButtMonkey: The Aeldari can’t catch a break in this timeline, partially because they’ve brought it upon themselves. Any time they end up fighting the Imperium of Man, it usually results in a loss.
56** Proxima Centauri resulted in Iskandar (Fulgrim) being reborn and their attempt caused The Emperor to turn his eye to the Warp and threaten the Laughing God himself.
57** Craftworld Zandros leaving the Squats to die caused them to seek revenge with the help of the Dragon-Forged (Salamanders) resulting in its destruction.
58** Their collaboration with the Orks in Golgotha didn’t amount to anything as [=Culain MacTurson=] (Ferrus Manus) still fought them back which resulted in their loss.
59** The Drukhari’s attempt to assassinate Marcus Augustio (Roboute Guilliman) via poisoning is all for naught as they ended up killing themselves in the process and giving Marcus more data on how the Aeldari as a whole operate.
60** The only time when the Imperium of Man and Aeldari didn’t get into an all-out battle was Magnus’ meeting with Eldrad in Prospero, and even then it was the latter’s attempt to manipulate the Primarch in fighting for the Eldar, something Magnus recognized and caused him to turn the tables on Eldrad.
61* CategoryTraitor: Unsurprisingly, Eldrad is viewed as this to most if not all the Aeldari as a whole as he joined the Imperium.
62* CavalryBetrayal: A fleet from Craftworld Zandros arrives at the orbit of a besieged Squat world, asking for artifacts they left with the inhabitants long ago. When the Squats asked for help with the siege in return in accordance to ancient treaties of mutual aid, the Eldar teleported in, massacred the leaders, and took their passes to the vault containing the artifacts. Without the leaders, the world soon fell. {{Deconstructed}}, as their penchant for doing so leads to the destruction of their Craftworld.
63* CharacterDevelopment: The Emperor begins to change as a person no thanks to the visions and warning of his future self upon the Golden Throne.
64** While he's still committed to the creation of the Imperium and is willing to walk the path of blood to ascend humanity into greater heights, he acknowledges the costs this path will be and pushes forward with grim determination. He heavily regrets the path that he chooses to walk on and makes no illusion that he's a tyrant and a monster, but is obligated to so for the sake of humanity.
65** He also starts to treat those under him with more care and consideration, most prominent of all are his relationships with the Primarchs, as he's still something of a stern father figure, but lets them know how much he appreciates their efforts and genuinely cares for them as his children, allowing them to live out a proper childhood to not only ensure their mental stability, but also gives them happy memories and allow them to live a time of carefree responsibility before each of them take up mantles for the Imperium of Man. Likewise, the Thunder Warriors (save for Arik and Ghota), still died, but allowed them to pass away via natural causes instead of having them be gunned down.
66** He also begins to place trust in others more instead of attempting to do things on his own. When discussing the issue about what to do with aliens, the Emperor gave his sons leeway on how to approach the issue instead of forcing them to take his side. When consoling Horus during the time he's plagued with seeing his future self, the Emperor outright says that no one, not even him, decides how the future will be and that only Horus has control over his own fate. He also shows the truth about the Warp and Chaos to not only the Primarchs, but also the common people, making him aware that such a threat exists, and that it ''can'' be beaten.
67** A FatalFlaw of the Emperor's is that he tends to cut way too many corners and tries to hurry things along, focusing on the bigger picture instead of dealing with the present problems that eventually got too big to handle. Between him not addressing the mental instability and flaws of the traitor Primarchs, having no hand in quelling the dissenters of Mars and focusing too much on the Webway Project eventually led to the Horus Heresy. Here, the Emperor actually addresses the issues that would've plagued the canon Imperium before they became too big an issue. For example, he delays the Great Crusade to ensure the Primarchs all grew up as mentally stable adults to sever any leverage Chaos could've used to turn them to their side and personally speaks to Kelbor-Hal to show him the truth of the Machine God which allows him to switch the policy of Mars from mere hunting STCs to carefully developing technology.
68** He's also more receptive to the advice of other people. In canon, the Emperor tried to have Uriah see that his way is the only way, viewing himself so far in the right that he doesn't question the morality of his actions. Here, the Emperor ''asks'' The Last Priest for advice instead of trying to get into a philosophical debate, allowing him input and seeing the value of his advice, making it easier to sway Uriah on the Emperor's side. It helps that he actually ''explains'' his dislike of religion instead of merely putting himself in a position where he's always correct. It's thanks to Uriah's advice that the Imperial Truth is revised, where instead of merely preaching a secular empire, it advocates for faith, but the faith of humanity, and the faith to what they can do should they all work together.
69** Overall, this is a far cry from the canon Emperor, who's viewed as a cold figure who relies on logic, uncaring about what others say, views his way is the only way and hides much from everyone including his closest followers, hence part of why the Heresy happened.
70* CombatPragmatist: On Luna, Zaubernax the Chaos Champion expects a honorable duel against a Primarch while his Legion besieges the gates in a bloody meatgrinder. Instead, both he and the gates get an orbital bombardment to the face, courtesy of Marcus Augustio.
71* CombatByChampion: The siege of the Orks upon the final Squat stronghold ended with one. [[spoiler:The Squat champion fell, but by then, TheCavalry arrived, led by Vulkan.]]
72* ContagiousHeroism: The Astronomicon touched Children seem to possess this.
73* CoDragons: Malcador and Arik Taranis act as the Emperor's Dragons.
74* CruelToBeKind: After the attack on Luna, the Emperor doesn't remove the memories of Horus' AlternateSelf from the future that the Chaos Gods implanted on him in their attempt to sway him to their side, as not even he knew the consequences of doing so. [[spoiler: Fortunately, it paid off during the Battle of Ullanor as being constantly haunted by his future self allowed IA!Horus to gather the mental strength to reject him in his entirety]].
75* CulturedWarrior: Under Magnus' influence, the XV Legion is an entire Legion's worth of this. Every Astartes member studies the greatest generals of a thousand eras, debating their strengths and failings with their brothers. This also extends to the mortal members of their crusader fleet, with every member - from the highest admirals, to the lowliest servants - spending what time they had bettering themselves through learning.
76* DeaderThanDead: What Eddard Fendragon's 'Titansword' can do to anything it strikes.
77* TheDeterminator: The Squat champion stabbing the Ork Warboss [[spoiler:despite being in a HalfTheManHeUsedToBe state]].
78* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The Emperor has a long history of this involving the Chaos Gods and Void Dragon.
79* TheDogBitesBack: Senada and the other slaves on Ceres.
80* DrillSergeantNasty: Arik Taranis becomes this for the Primarchs, but when it comes to his handling of Magnus, even the Emperor believes he crossed too many lines.
81* EarnYourHappyEnding: The Shining Path is not an easy one, but it's a path that's nonetheless reachable, but not without a ''lot'' of sacrifices and hardship.
82* EducationMama: The Assai-Matarari can sometimes fall into this.
83* EldritchAbomination: In droves. The Chaos Gods, C'tan, Rangda, Men of Iron, even the Emperor to a degree.
84* EvilCounterpart: What [[spoiler:Korban seeks to be for the Imperium when he conquers Maccragge]].
85* FacelessEye: Tzeentch takes a form similar to this when the Emperor confronts him.
86* FanSequel: Due to the author hitting a major writing block, other continue the fic for them [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/imperium-ascendant-redux-a-continuation-of-a-heresy-less-40k.968339/ in a separate thread]].
87* FateWorseThanDeath: The Ascendant Emperor sees the 40k Emperor's fate as this - reduced to a corpse on a golden throne, trapped between a state of life and death, and worshiped as a god by a fanatically theocratic Imperium whose people have discarded reason and science in favor of war, bloodshed, and death. To a staunch atheist like the Emperor, such a fate is utterly nightmarish.
88* FatalFlaw: Arrogance for the Aeldari and Magnus. Even when the advent of She Who Thirsts scattered their empire, they really don’t know when to recognize that they’ve met their match. They still have the call to call humans 'Mon-Keigh' even though the Imperium of Man has been repeatedly kicking their asses every time they reveal themselves. As for Magnus, his over-reliance on his Psyker gifts caused him to develop an ego that would’ve fallen him as much as his canon self had he not learned a harsh lesson.
89* FeatherFlechettes: Dante (the alternate Sanguinius) was shown using them against a fleeing enemy leader.
90* ForWantOfANail: The Primarchs aren't scattered across the Galaxy, and everything changes.
91** For example, Macragge falls because, without Roboute Guilliman (Marcus Augustio), there's no unifying figure to turn it in the great region that it became in canon.
92** Without Magnus' leadership, the citizens of Prospero fall victim to the Psychneuein, and Magnus is forced to give the world and its people a MercyKill. He even personally executes Amon, his mentor in the original timeline, out of compassion and grim necessity.
93** Since the Emperor decided to delay the Great Crusade for the sake of not only preparing the Imperium but also to ensure the Primarchs grew up in a stable environment, the enemies that they'll fight are much stronger compared to canon. Most notable example are the Orks, where instead of getting their asses kicked constantly like in canon, are putting up a much bigger fight. The Rangda's influence has also gotten larger rather than an (albeit very important) footnote like in canon & Chaos is still something of a credible threat, plus other potential alien species that can threaten mankind due to the Imperium launching the Great Crusade later than intended.
94** Due to the Emperor getting a taste of what his future will be like from his canon self, he delays the Great Crusade for the sake of raising the Primarchs properly and treating them not as tools to be used but as children. While this has made the unfortunate effect of making the enemies the Imperium will have to fight stronger, none of the Primarchs have any animosity towards their father and are fiercely loyal to him and the Imperium, cutting off any potential leverage Chaos or any other enemy faction seeking to undermine the Imperium. Since the Primarchs were all raised under one house, they've all gotten to know each other more and have a closer relationship and while there's still some rivalries and huge disagreements between themselves and their father, it hasn't caused any significant delays to the Great Crusade as a whole nor did it get so toxic where they would willingly attempt to kill one another.
95* FantasticRacism: Subverted; The Emperor gave his order to exterminate all alien life not because of this, but because Chaos activity during the Age of Strife made alien life potentially corrupted (he even list some species destroyed during this period). He also states that he can't always recognise Chaos taint on aliens or protect their souls. So he decides better be safe than sorry. Nevertheless, his sons disagree, and Magnus decides to try not to engage in pointless exterminations. The Emperor agrees, but warns them about potential consequences.
96* FriendlyRivalry: In droves among the Primarchs, as opposed to their more toxic relationships in the canon timeline.
97* ForegoneConclusion: It's practically all but established that the Imperium is going to avert the dogmatic, xenophobic rotten carcass of an empire the canon version would eventually become due to the Emperor heeding his future self's warnings and come out on top. ''How'' it gets there has yet to be fully archived.
98* FutureMeScaresMe:
99** Understandably, the Emperor is horrified that his eventual fate would result in him being interred to the Golden Throne, helpless as the empire he sought to create fell apart and decayed from within, all the while enemies surround them at all sides.
100** Horus unsurprisingly doesn't have a positive view of his AlternateSelf from the future due to his role in leading the Heresy.
101* GodEmperor: What The Emperor of Mankind of the canon timeline ends up becoming inadvertently, something that his Ascendant counterpart feared the most.
102* GodzillaThreshold: The Angel, a Superweapon from the Age of Strife, end up being unleashed on Luna during the Lunar Crusade when [[spoiler:Be'lakor overpowers Marcus Augustio and Kalib Kraad]].
103* GoneHorriblyRight: What the IA!Emperor thinks of the canon Imperium. While the sovereign nation that he sought to build was able to withstand the test of time even for 10 millennia and fight off the various forces that attack them all in the Emperor's name, it slowly degenerated into an empire where innovation is frowned upon, religious dogma is heavily encouraged if not outright required and the bureaucratic structure is shaped in such a way that the various factions are putting as much time in fighting each other as they do the enemy.
104* GoodParents:
105** Thanks to the Emperor regaining his humanity, he's this to the Primarchs. While still a stern father figure, he has a parental attachment to all of them and never views them as tools. When discussing the issue about what to do with peaceful Xenos, the Emperor allowed them to choose how to go about the issue, allowing them a greater degree of trust compared to his canon version.
106** The Assa-Matari, the maternal figures assigned to the Primarchs also count, as all of them have shown nothing but support and love towards all 20, allowing them to have a more well-adjusted outlook on life.
107* GullibleLemmings: The Creed of Four Phases and other Chaos Cults.
108* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Abbadon gives up his life on the Battle of Ullanor to give Tengri time to escape]].
109* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Eldar who attack the Squats are implied to do so because their precognition and divination said that betraying the Squats and crippling them would preserve their Craftworld for longer, and are stated to have done this often to other parties due to paranoia. This leads directly to their Craftworld being destroyed by the Squats later on.
110* HollywoodAtheist: Uriah seems to think this of the Emperor at first and at times the Master of Mankind can fall into it.
111* IDidWhatIHadToDo: The Emperor's reasoning for his actions. Eldrad's too, after his deal with Magnus.
112* IHaveManyNames: Chapter 4 reveals that the Emperor's names are [[spoiler:Atham the Revelation, Master of Mankind, Anathema to Chaos, Augustus Imperator, Father of the Imperium, Lord of Terra and Mars, Omnissiah, Lord of Perpetuals, Sire of Heroes, and the New Man]].
113* InSpiteOfANail: Subverted. Uriah's talk with the Emperor ended the same way as it did in canon: Willing to die while the last church burns around him (albeit this time by his own doing instead of the Emperor's forces). [[spoiler: Except the Emperor extended his lifespan and saves him while the church burns to the ground]].
114* {{Irony}}: The Ascendant Emperor refers to the Emperor of 40K as the Corpse-Emperor. You know, the very same title ''the Chaos Gods and their followers say whenever they refer to the Emperor''.
115** ''Magnus'' is the one burning Prospero this time around.
116* KillSat: Marcus Augustio uses a Lunar Class Cruiser like this. During the assault on Port Luna.
117* KnightTemplar: Cegorach. [[spoiler: He plans to kill the Emperor (and nearly succeds) to use his death energy as a way destroy Chaos Gods and to prevent the birth of the fifth Chaos God. The Emperor actually agrees with his plan, but counters that this will destroy Chaos only in this universe.]]
118* KnightOfCerebus: The Q'hrel serve as this during the I and II's campaign to unify and liberate Sol.
119* LighterAndSofter: Well, at least for the Imperium of Man. This being 40k, there's going to be a ''lot'' of bloodshed on both the Imperium and other factions, but at the end of the tunnel, the dream that the Emperor sought to do for the sake of mankind has come to fruition. All the Primarchs show UndyingLoyalty to the Emperor, Imperial citizens that aren't part of the Astartes or high up the chain of command have knowledge about Chaos instead of being downright ignorant & the overall quality of life is significantly better. Side materials even show that there's restoration efforts done on Terra in an attempt to bring back the ocean and plantlife known as the Gaia project.
120* LovecraftianSuperpower: The powerset of the Rangdans and some Chaos Sorcerers.
121* ManipulativeBastard: Tzeentch, The God Emperor, some of the Primarchs and surprisingly Arik Taranis.
122* MeaningfulRename: The Grey Knights have been renamed as the ''Silver'' Knights, symbolizing how they aren't protecting a slowly decaying empire, but a more enlightened era and a bastion of hope for humanity. They help pave the way for humanity to never fear the forces of Chaos, a far cry from their canon role of holding back a slowly losing fight as the home they sought to protect also rots from the inside.
123* MonsterClown: SOP of the Harlequins, Eldar who follow Cegorach, particularly when The Emperor and Iskandar Basileus visit Proxima Centauri.
124* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The Emperor's reaction to the God-Emperor and the 40k!Imperium.
125* NamedByTheAdaptation: In canon, the Emperor [[NoNameGiven has no name]]. Here, his true name is [[spoiler:Atham the Revelation]].
126* NecessarilyEvil: While the Ascendant!Imperium is a far cry from the decaying empire of its canon version, this being Warhammer 40k, some decisions that can be viewed as morally gray at most are still employed.
127*** Psykers are still being fed to the Astronomicon to lighten the Emperor's burden, but unlike in canon, it's at least made to be as painless as possible unless the psyker is willing to resist and/or unstable, nor are the demands for it so high. While there is a school dedicated to training psykers, it also serves as a prison with guards that are willing to shoot them on sight should they go out of control. This is especially prominent with Beta-Alpha level psykers, who have the least amount of freedom due to the amount of power they have.
128*** Xenos with a potential to be a psyker have it worse, as their powers are essentially stunted by having a chip implanted upon them to render them powerless which would be rigged to explode should they go out of control. Only the Eldar are spared from this fate due to their immense control and experience with the Immaterium. This decision to restrict Xenos has caused some tension amongst the more Xeno-tolerant Primarchs.
129* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
130** The Chaos Gods opened the Great Rift so Argel Tal and his Serrated Sun squadron can scatter the infant Primarchs... which allowed Throne-Emperor to send Legion of the Damned into the past and prevent the Chaos Gods' plot to steal and corrupt the Primarchs.
131* NoodleIncident:
132** What exactly was the Emperor's Birthright that he reclaimed on Molech?
133** What did the Soul Hunters make that let them win the competition held between the IV, X, and XVIII Legions - and also got them banned every subsequent year?
134* NotHelpingYourCase: The Aeldari's attempt to preserve what's left of their DyingRace ends up biting them in the long run.
135** Craftworld Zandros left the Squats to die and performed a CavalryBetrayal, eventually causing them along with the Dragon-Forged to attack them out of revenge.
136** Attacking the Emperor and Iskandar on Proxima Centauri sours any potential diplomatic relations the two races would've had.
137** Cegorach tries to explain to the Emperor about his motivation regarding his WoundedGazelleGambit, but having been attacked and being dead set on his goals made him unwilling to agree with the Laughing God's plans.
138** The Drukhari's assassination attempt on Marcus Augustio failed, giving him knowledge that the Beast Blackfang is collaborating with the Aeldari as well as how they operate.
139* ObstructiveZealot: The Creed of Four Phases when they work to undermine Imperial Authority.
140* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: How Revelation fought and overcame [[spoiler:Hashut, the Unborn god of Greed]].
141* OffWithHisHead: Argal Tal is decapacitated just after recognizing the mysteriaous Custodes as Aquillon (whom he killed by biting off his head in the canon timeline).
142* OhCrap: Daemon Prince Ingethel screams in utter terror when she senses Throne-Emperor's psychic power cutting through the Warp to let the Legion of the Damned into the past.
143--> '''Ingethel:''' Anathema... THE ANATHEMA HAS COME!
144* OldSoldier: Arik Taranis and Ghota fall into this.
145* OminousMessageFromTheFuture: The Ascendant!Emperor's meeting with Throne-Emperor of 40k is essentially the latter's attempt to warn him of what his actions would eventually lead to if he did not show empathy towards the Primarchs. The Ascendant!Emperor takes the warnings to heart.
146* OurAngelsAreDifferent: The IX legion embrace the angelic imagery of their Primarch wholeheartedly, wearing winged jump packs into combat.
147* PublicDomainArtifact:
148** Horus wields the Spear of Destiny.
149** The wood of the staff Magnus carries comes from the Bodhi Tree.
150* QualityOverQuantity: The geneseed of the Legion V is believed to be ''very'' picky as to who can accept it. It is very difficult to find a compatible candidate, but those that can accept it experience no forms of rejection or biological failures.
151* QuirkyMinibossSquad: A dark subversion of this occurs when the Emperor faces warp-golem versions of [[spoiler:the Primarchs]] after lighting the Astronomicon.
152* RecursiveFic: There is a DistantFinale Franchise/StarWars [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/a-jedi-falls-an-arcanists-arises-imperium-ascendant-heresy-less-40k-star-wars.1005559/ crossover]] ongoing.
153* ScrewDestiny: How this story begins. The Legion of the Damned are sent back ten thousand years into the past by Throne-Emperor to prevent the scattering of the Primarchs.
154* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: The Emperor is determined to avoid making the same mistakes as his canon counterpart.
155* SparedByTheAdaptation:
156** The Ascendant!Emperor avoids the FateWorseThanDeath suffered by the Emperor of 40k by taking steps to avoid creating the CrapsackWorld that is the 40k Imperium - most prominent among them is his genuine efforts to be a proper father figure to the Primarchs.
157** Unlike in canon, the Thunder Warriors are allowed to go out on their own terms in battle rather than being put down by the Custodes, and Arik Taranis and another Thunder Warrior named Ghota survive and end up being teachers to the Primarchs and the first generation of Astartes.
158** After losing a philosophical debate with the 40k Emperor, Uriah Olathaire decides to die with his church as the Last Priest, [[WhatTheHellHero calling the 40k Emperor out on his hypocrisy]] and giving a warning about depriving humanity of religion before the 40k Emperor has him torched by the Thunder Warriors. Here, Uriah lives due to the Ascendant!Emperor choosing to empower him and make him the Guardian of the Imperial Truth, extending the priest's lifespan at the same time.
159* SuperEmpowering: Just before he leaves the canon 40k timeline, the Ascendant!Emperor is empowered by uncorrupted shards of the Primarchs' collective goodness, restoring his empathy for humanity and empowering him with quintillions of human souls due to being a living form of Human Afterlife.
160* TheSwarm: It's 40k, so the Tyranids are coming. The [[spoiler: Rangda]] and other Great Crusade Xeno's count.
161* TakeAThirdOption: How the Emperor prevented the Primarchs from falling to Chaos in the Ascendant timeline - he felt soul-binding the Primarchs to him was distasteful, but when he tried crippling the Primarchs by ridding them of emotion, the then-infant Magnus stopped him by showing him a future where the Primarchs were rendered powerful yet emotionally-stunted superweapons. Horrified, the Emperor decides to take another option: Binding the Primarchs with an unbreakable PsychicLink.
162* TagTeamTwins: Alpharius and Omegon fight like this when it is necessary.
163* TookALevelInBadass:
164** The Imperium of Man as part of the fanfic's premise. Due to God-Emperor sending visions to his younger self, he begins to take steps to ensure any weaknesses and flaws in the empire as a whole are eliminated or at least toned down.
165*** The Emperor himself is much more powerful than his canon version due to being empowered with many human souls, easily beating back the Ruinous Powers not only once, but twice.
166*** Any personality or genetic flaws the Primarch have aren't as big of an issue due to the Emperor giving them a childhood and fixing inbuilt issues in their DNA. It helps that Chaos didn't get their hands on any of them, preventing any mutations they would've given.
167*** The Mechanicus have no dissenters, or at least too little to make a huge impact due to the Emperor showing the Void Dragon to Kelbor Hal, which causes him to advocate careful technological development instead of merely hunting Standard Template Constructs.
168*** The Emperor founds the organization from the dark future to use in the Ascendant timeline such as the creation of the Grey Knights and its version of the Inquisition, this time less occupied with political scheming and choking bureaucracy.
169** Sadly, the enemies of the Imperium also get stronger since the Great Crusade got delayed due to the Emperor's extra preparations.
170*** The Orks aren't suffering countless curb-stomps, but are giving the Imperium a genuine fight to the point where Horus describes the war against the Greenskins as a slog.
171*** The Rangda have occupied more worlds and infested more people with no Imperium of Man to stop them in time. Dante (Sanguinius) ended up in a BadassInDistress situation where he had to survive in a conflict where his powers are rendered ineffective.
172** Inverted towards the Aeldari and Chaos. The former has all but fractured due to their empire's fall, not helping their case is that they ''really'' are fond of antagonizing the Imperium and end up gaining little while the latter's influence is heavily reduced due to the Emperor, using the Angel as a host, burns down their home territory which forces them to fight over what little scraps that hasn't been touched by his light.
173* UnnecessarilyLargeInterior: The Imperial Palace is filled with rooms like this and the Hollow Mountain of the Astronomicon is literally that.
174* UnusualEuphemism: Upon a ship in prolonged combat, a person describing people in non-combat roles mentions that "A couple of younger members of our group found solace among each other. Working hard at night to produce the next generation of Imperial citizens."
175* VestigialEmpire: This is what the Aeldari has been reduced to. With the birth of Slaanesh crippling their civilization, nothing is left but the small pockets that the She Who Thirsts has yet to touch. It's not really helping their case that they also keep antagonizing the Imperium of Man, who TookALevelInBadass due to the Emperor fixing all the mistakes that doomed his canon counterpart, allowing for a more united humanity under his banner that lacks the major problems that plague the canon Imperium.
176** It's also heavily implied the Eldar will clash with the Imperium when the latter attempts to colonize the Webway.
177* VirtueIsWeakness: Part of the reason why the canon Emperor created the Primarchs is to rid himself of all weakness in order to become the 'perfect' leader humanity needed. This resulted in the Primarchs embodying each of his discarded traits. The Ascendant!Emperor realizes that in doing this, he appeared to the Primarchs as an inhuman Emperor instead of the father-figure and teacher they wanted, ultimately dooming the Imperium of 40k.
178* WalkingTheEarth: What the Emperor spent his youth doing according to this Fic.
179* WesternZodiac: The Emperor gave each Primarch a ring engraved with the Zodiac sign they are connected to.
180* WhatTheRomansHaveDoneForUs: Marcus Augustio, the XIII Primarch uses this in spades.
181* WhamLine:
182** When the Emperor reveals that [[spoiler: Cegorach is actually the last Old One.]]
183** At the same time, the Emperor may be a [[spoiler: part-Old One, the Craftsman, who helped ancient shamans to create the Emperor and merged his soul with him if Cegorach to be trusted. Also, there are more Old Ones.]]
184* WouldHurtAChild: When it becomes clear that the infant Primarchs cannot be retrieved thanks to the Legion of the Damned's intervention, Argal Tal orders his soldiers to kill Primarchs I, VI, VII, XI, XIII, XVIII, and XIX[[note]]Lion El'Jonson, Leman Russ, Rogal Dorn, the second missing Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, Vulkan, and Corvus Corvax[[/note]]. This was to ensure that the targeted Primarchs would never come to exist as they had in the canon timeline. Fortunately, the Legion of the Damned succeeds in preventing the Serrated Suns chapter from doing so.

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