Warhammer: Just unified the Empire, you said it was 40K

Chapter 283 Traitor
And now.

The high lords all know about this.

Therefore, every high lord must be making preparations for both possibilities.

While they believed nothing was happening, they were also preparing to secretly send out the secrets of other high lords to demonstrate their loyalty. In any case, for these high lords, suppressing the power of others and preserving their own power was more important. Of course, they also understood that if they were too weak, the arrival of the war would inevitably severely weaken their interests.

Those Astartes still cannot enter Terra. Even though their Highlords' power is severely restricted, they must adhere to an absolute bottom line: to restrain the Astartes and ensure that all power in the Empire is concentrated in the hands of true humans. This is the absolute bottom line.

The Astartes can have military ranks for war.

But they must never gain political rights; they will always be merely tools of the empire.

The High Lord has begun to reveal his weakness.

However, this doesn't mean that those represented by the High Lords were willing to surrender directly. It's important to understand that the High Lords were merely representatives of their power; the ones who truly reaped the greater benefits were often the families behind them—navigator families, knight families, and nobles appointed by the Empire, among others.
Getting these people to do things, and forcing them to temporarily set aside their own interests for the sake of the empire, is simply unrealistic. An empire can be destroyed, and humanity can be destroyed, but one's own power, one's family influence, and the vast aristocratic empire must never be destroyed.

Even if the high lords give up protecting their power, they will still band together to resist the Empire's orders. They may not openly defy the Empire, but within their own territories, they will treat the Empire's orders as worthless.

The empire does indeed possess absolute power, but those who exercise that power are the nobles, the families under those high lords; they are the ones who have the right to interpret scriptures.

Just like the ancient empires on the planet Terra.

If their interests are not satisfied, they can completely prevent the administration from leaving Terra and paralyze the empire.

The royal power, of course, would not dare to do such a thing.

Because even if one cannot drown the one who holds the throne, one can still control the power of the entire empire.

If the Empire does not grant them sufficient power and resources, they will absolutely not fully obey orders from Terra, and even if orders are given, they will execute them in a chaotic manner.

The Empire can kill them, but can it kill them all?
That is impossible.

Therefore, they themselves are very clear about this.

Even when the Emperor traveled among mortals, he only tried his best to win over the governors of those slave planets, rather than retaliating against them for upholding justice for Angron. The Emperor did this, and so did Guilliman during his reign.

Many people tried to assassinate Makado, and even more wanted to kill him.

But they understood that this assassination was a game with unspoken rules.

The assassination was successful, and Macardo was in trouble.

However, if the assassination fails, Macardo will only eliminate some of those who have surfaced and win over a portion of the loyal factions. They will not carry out a large-scale massacre of the nobles, or even the Space Marines of the chapters, nor will they be able to vent their anger by killing so many Terrac nobles. Thus, for most governors, families, and noble clans, their very core remains unharmed. They still control the survival of the lower classes, the supply of the army, the allocation of resources, conscription, and other vital aspects of the Empire.

"What's there to be afraid of? It's just a dead man who has come back to life!" Some ancient nobles, upon hearing of Makado's arrival, merely smiled coldly in their extremely luxurious palaces.

The empire's history over the years is irrevocably altered, even with Makado's return.

The entire empire is a mess, so even if the Emperor himself rose from his throne in Terra Palace, it would be of no use.

Beneath Terra lies a diverse mix of gene-stealers, aliens, mutants, heretics, greenskins, and gangs.
And this is only the lower part of Terra.

In other places, there are even more of these kinds of rotten pits.

The number of battle groups has now been reduced to an extreme.

A warband typically consists of no more than four hundred people. Including those awaiting training and military service, the number might only be a few thousand. The true foundation of the empire does not rely on the Astartes, but rather on the mortal auxiliary troops.

The control of the armies, which were entrusted to the mortals, did not lie with the Astartes.

For the nobles of Terra.

You Astartes fight outside according to your own rules, but once you come to Terra, you must follow the power-swapping game on Terra.

“Macado?” “Heh, what is Macado? He’s just an old man who has been resurrected. Even if the Emperor rises up, it’s fine. Don’t worry, just continue doing what you were doing.”

For these nobles, the belief in the emperor was also a game of power.

Making ordinary people and mortals believe in emperors is merely a tool for them to maintain their rule.

So when Macardo arrived, some people without real power panicked. They desperately wanted to take some action to prevent Macardo's return. After the assassination failed, they tried to coerce the high lords or unite with other nobles in some way to resolve the crisis they were facing. Some even fantasized about whether the empire could eventually return to the past and the balance of power between the aliens, chaos, and other forces.

However, there was little concern about the nobles, governors, and united families who held real power.

Even though emperors changed hands time and again in ancient times, there were still families that could stand firm. These stubborn families, deeply rooted in the empire, were no longer something the empire could eradicate. When the human empire was on its great expedition, when the emperor was still alive, the emperor never thought of eliminating them. But after ten thousand years, this problem had completely taken root in the empire.

If these people are killed, no one will serve the empire, and the empire will die directly.

But if these people aren't killed, the empire will remain in chaos, barely surviving under the siege of the aliens, and will slowly die.

Any administrator who is smart enough will understand that a large-scale purge of the nobles on Terra is not possible, because it is simply impossible to cleanse them. Unless Terra were to return to the past and be only the size of one or two planets, a single purge would paralyze the empire. Forget about expeditions; even if the empire were to be at war, no one would be able to send news back.

Therefore, the only option is to win them over.

Everyone knows this very well.

Those within the Empire understood this, the Astartes understood it even better, and even the Imperial warriors who defected to Chaos or became pirates were well aware of it.

"Those fools think that Makado's return will bring real change to the Empire!"

"But in reality, even Makado himself is very clear about it."

"His arrival will not bring about any fundamental change to the empire."

In the shadows.

An administrative order was issued.

A Space Marine chapter departs from the heart of the Empire.

The combat group on this warship was like a group of cold machines. Their thoughts and their gazes were all cold and unpredictable. Each of them was wearing the Empire's finest Mark 8 power armor and the improved Mark 3 power armor, as well as some wearing Hades-type and Aknak-type Terminator power armor, which were rarely seen even by the Empire.

The Mido Warband.

A private army completely subservient to the High Lord.

They possess "Berserker" units, whose combat instincts are implanted in their subconscious. Once activated, they transform into ruthless killing machines on the battlefield. They are all directly loyal to the Highlord of Terra and are considered his private army. Their role is to carry out internal purges and protect the Highlord in the most critical moments. Due to their powerful backing, they have a hostile attitude towards other Astartes Chapters and their actions often go unpunished, so they are in conflict with almost all Chapters.

At this time, nature naturally acts as a warband to protect the high lord.

Moreover, the existence of the Minotaur Chapters can better protect the High Lords. After all, even if Macardo arrives, it will inevitably involve a power struggle with them. The Minotaur Chapters' establishment of authority will let other Astartes Chapters know that they are not easy to bully, and directly stripping them of their power could potentially tear the Empire apart.

The Minoan Chapters, which have become the long arms of the Highlords, are very clear about the role they play, and they are happy to do so. In their view, they are the true saviors of the Empire, following the vision set by the Emperor that the Astartes were built to obey the will of humanity.

They might even look down on warbands that outwardly fight for the empire but are actually fighting amongst themselves for their own interests. Therefore, they are happy to suppress other warbands, even believing that this can eliminate the bad apples in the empire.

Now, a large number of warbands, accompanied by a 'regent' who has been dead for countless years, are forcibly violating the Astartes Code under the pretext of 'purging corrupt officials from the court'.

These people's behavior makes them doubt the other party's loyalty.

Chapter Master Astrion Mohr wears custom-made black Terminator armor and wields the massive power spear "Obsidian Spear" and the Storm Shield. He has defeated many rebel chapter masters on numerous occasions, and his helmet is adorned with bull-like horns.

Some say that the Minotaur Warmasters are not individuals, but a group of clones, or replicants, designed to maintain absolute obedience.

(End of this chapter)