This is Heresy indeed! While I am certainly up for some kind of expansion on Praetorian background, I feel that Praetoria, as one of the most popular sources of troops in the hobby, cannot be simply swept into the annals of history - the feckless High Lords in Games Workshop may have dropped Praetoria in the fluff, but does this not give us Carte Blanche to do precisely what we want with the fate of Praetoria, as possibly the largest congress of Praetorian players on the internet at present?
It is certainly true that Praetoria is in the firing line of the Tyranid threat. Established as that is, it seems a wasted opportunity to give up Praetoria to the depredations of posterity - let us recount some of the concurrences which we, as a group, have reached when discussing fluff.
Praetoria has an extended dominion over some areas of the Segmentum Pacificus - while we have not specified how far or in what manner this dominion is administrated, we have certainly concurred that there is a substantial economic empire and trading fleet.
Praetoria has a powerful military system, both in terms of PDF, Tithed Imperial Guard, and some shadowy private forces under the notional command of the Praetorian Trading Company. Again, these have not been expanded on, although there have been some noble attempts made.
Praetoria holds considerable influence in the wider Imperium - enough that a semi-autonomous expedition to Catachan has been conducted by Praetorian adventurers in recent years.
My suggestion of a parralel Praetorian belief that the Emperor is a Divine King who directly rules Praetoria as well as vaguely administering the rest of the Imperium from Terra has not been seriously opposed as yet.
So what do we have, gentlemen? I would put it to the house that Praetoria is not a failed world, but that we have the opportunity to build a semi-independant civilisation in the Segmentum Pacificus, responsible for its own defence and that of its economic Empire - after all, historical examples of far-ranging, multi-cultural Empires like Rome, Austria and Britain show that far from simply allowing successful parts of the Empire to disintegrate, a powerful system will give them increased autonomy little by little, in order to minimise costs and streamline beauraucracy.
I therefore suggest that Praetoria's death-knell be not sounded just yet. Yes, it will mean a slow decline for our beloved world, but that will be in-keeping with the rest of humanity and we will have the opportunity to battle on as a major power on an increasingly unstable Southern Frontier. Meanwhile, Praetorian society will continue to exist, but isolated from some elements of the Imperium - we are quite far out there on the Galactic edge, and that will explain why GW does not reference us any more.
I believe there's life in the old dog yet. I yield the floor to the chair.
Major of the LVIII, Treasurer of the Praetorian Trading Company.
2008/8/7 Rob <robang@...>
A thread on warseer about which Imperial Guard regiments just dont get
enough love got me thinking, and that thinking is probably quite
Heretical!
The thing, I think we all know deep down that GW are never going to
touch the concept of Praetorians, the British Redcoats of the Imperial
Guard again, they are too historically cliche for them these days. It
occured to me they've literally just been dropped, occasionally a
Regiment name makes it into one of the Black Library source books but
that's it.
With 5th Edition we've reached 'The Time of Ending', the Imperium
(even more so) assailed from all sides, the Golden Throne beginning to
fail, it would no doubt suit GW if Praetoria ceased to exist, and on
thinking about it theres part of me that would like to see our boys in
red get one last foot note in 40k History rather then simply
mysteriously vanishing, I'm actually advocating that Praetoria could
do the way of the Squats, litterally.
Hive Fleet Leviathan is moving up through the galatic core, Gryphon IV
one of the most significant Forge Worlds in the Segmentum has been
wiped out by one tendril, hundreds of worlds have been abandoned to
their fate by the actions of Inquisitor Kryptman to create a buffer
zone (for those not in the know the planet is left to stand, and then
at the last moment, the minute of Tyranid victory, the world is
subject to Exterinatus to deny them biomass - thus they exhaust
themselves on the world and are left with nothing to replaces their
loses, scorched earth at it's most extreme). Hows this releveant? With
the new Galaxy Map Gryphon IV is right in our neighbourhood, meaning
the Tyranids are right on our proverbial doorstep.
What if Praetoria was written out of 40k History with a last stand
upon Praetoria against the Tyranids, one last foot note rather then
jsut vanishing, how would you feel about that one?
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