What if the primarchs were never scattered?
So in a post I made about a week ago, I speculated about how the primarchs being raised by Mr.God Emperor of Mankind would not result in the most emotionally stable individuals because Big E is canonically a shitty dad and a control freak. I would like to thank everyone who shared their very cool and interesting ideas in that post, as it gave me a lot of inspiration and motivation to flesh out this AU.
To summarize, the primarchs were never scattered, and so they were raised as Big E intended.
Not because Chaos couldn’t scatter them, but because the Ruinous Powers wanted to create the maximum amount of chaos possible, even if it meant their efforts would have to be more subtle, patient, but ultimately even more dangerous.
The childhood Big E crafted to create ultra loyal war machines would prove to be not enough to prevent heresy, as all 18 primarchs would betray their father, for various reasons. This would result in a conflict so devastating that the Imperium would split into various feudal-like kingdoms(balkanizationnn) ruled by primarchs fighting each other for a larger sphere of influence. There is only war(roll credits)
I present to you, the Unscattered Heresy AU(may change name later).
So first, lets start with the childhood that would await these warp entities stuck in flesh cages,
If chaos never scattered the primarchs, I can imagine Big E being the dad who left to conquer the galaxy for a carton of milk and would leave all the actual child rearing to servitors, Malcador, Custodes, etc. Now, just because he isn't a present father doesn't mean he isn't going to be a helicopter parent simultaneously. Oh no, he will make sure that his plans to raise the perfect, untainted killing machines are followed to the T.
The first thing Big E planned to do was transfer the gestation pods to an ever deeper part of the imperial dungeon that I am going to dub the primarch facility(creative, right?), which would be protected by even more anti-chaos stuff and be so secretive that anyone who isn't a primarch(when of age), Big E, or Malcador can leave. Every custode, sister of silence or other individual(vetted by big e) who enters that facility will never see the light of day again to reduce the risk that corruptive influence could enter unexpectedly.
The emperor foresaw that, even with all his meticulous planning, having Malcador and company raise 20 demigods at the same time might be too much, so they decided to raise them in groups of 5, resulting in 4 waves of primarchs that would technically be different ages as the “younger” primarchs would be put in stasis until it was deemed ready to awaken them. Apart from making it easier to manage, it would provide some other benefits like having a hierarchy of older brother-younger brother dynamics that would enforce command structure(mixed results), mentorship, and having more opportunities to tweak methods of raising the primarchs so that rather than fucking it up with 20, they would only fuck up with 5, fix their mistake and learn from it. This would prove useful when the 2nd and 11th Primarchs turned out to be failures, as they only needed to mind-wipe 4 at a time rather than all of them/ making them swear an oath not to talk about it.
The first group, which would be the guinea pigs of the project, would consist of Lion, the 2nd, Fulgrim, Perty, and Khan. The second group would consist of Russ, Dorn, Konrad, Sanguinius, and Ferrus, where the professional babysitters would refine their techniques and produce the primarchs that most closely align with Big E’s original vision. Primarchs 11-20 is where they kinda dropped the ball because Big E was on a tight schedule and needed his generals now, so rather than have them being raised into 2 groups of 5 like the previous ones, he had them raised in one big group of 10. This would prove to be his most tumultuous group of primarchs, and where some of the first seeds of resentment and heresy would be planted.
On a sidenote, before I forget, the primarchs would not be given actual names by Big E(he would refer to them as 3rd son or some shit like that), but rather their true names would be revealed to them some time later. Some, like Perturabo and Horus, already innately knew what their names were. Most would have their name revealed to them during the Great Crusade, which, by the hand of fate, they would conquer their main timeline home planet, and their name would be revealed to them by the people, through a vision or through other means. They would also grow an emotional attachment to that planet and adopt some of its customs. This is kind of a way of explaining aspects of the primarchs that seemed to conveniently fit with their homeworlds in a timeline where they never grew up there.
So, back to childhood trauma.
There would be 5 stages of development that the primarchs would go through before being given a legion and sent on their way(I am going to assume a primarch reaches adulthood at around 5-8 terran years, but this may vary from primarch to primarch). Stage 0 is them developing in the gestation pod, as usual.
Stage 1, which would be the equivalent of about 1 terran year, and would correspond roughly with the mental age of going from being a baby to a 5-year-old, is where they would be transferred from the gestation pod to another larger pod. They would be hooked up to life support machines and simulations for indoctrination in a controlled environment. Big E wanted to make sure that during the stage in their life that they would be most impressionable, that the risk or corruption or heretical ideas would not be introduced. The indoctrination would be tailored to each primarch and would be more subliminal rather than an actual simulated childhood. Tech is not always reliable, however, so some of the primarchs may have been very aware of their surroundings while in the pod, unable to move but still very much awake. This would suck a lot and create lifelong trauma.
Once the primarch seemed stable enough and had their personality “locked in” by the simulations, they would be “awakened” and enter stage 2, which would correspond with the development of a 5-year-old to a 12-year-old (elementary/primary school age). They would be introduced to their other “awakened” brothers who were in the same group as themselves. They would follow a strict schedule where they would receive a general primarch-level education in reading, writing, history/propaganda, Imperium government organization, math, war strategy, etc., followed by physical training and combat, war games, and other stuff of that sort. During this period of their development, they would develop close bonds with the brothers in their group as well as rivalries.
Stage 3 would correspond roughly with being of middle school age(with the primarchs being roughly 3 years old, give or take). Everything from stage 2 would be amped up, with the primarchs spending their time working on developing their more “specialized” roles. The would also engage in simulated battles with their brothers(they are playing WH40k, but with servitors as their toy soldiers). During this life stage, Big E would schedule 1 week of the year where he would spend 1 hour with each primarch by taking them outside of the imperial dungeon to learn more about their destiny and the world in general. This meeting would prove fundamental in developing their relationship with their father because, up until that point, they had never met him. These meetings would become catalysts of jealousy and envy, as big E, being the dude he is, would naturally have favorites.
During this period, the 1st generation of primarchs would meet the second generation of primarchs in stage 2, and they would be allowed to interact during meals and free time. Some would take the younger primarchs under their wing, others would take out their frustrations on the younger, more vulnerable primarchs and bully them for their perceived weakness. Overall, the hierarchy of the primarchs would start to solidify. This environment would prove stifling to many primarchs who weren't (relatively speaking, they are primarchs) as physically strong or hellbent on proving their dominance. Without the support network and environment of their homeworld, like in the main timeline, some of these primarchs would have a difficult time growing out of their brothers’ shadow, as they would not be allowed to take as many leadership roles compared to when they were scattered. This would create an inferiority complex or a strong need to prove themselves in the future.
After vetting from Malcador, the primarchs would go on to the next phase, Stage 4(high school age to young adult, variable time spent here), where they would be allowed to see the Sun for the second time in their life. They would move into the imperial palace and be officially revealed to the public. The Primarchs would be allowed to roam the palace, interact with the rest of humanity, and learn the rules of etiquette, composure, social maneuvering, administration, oration, diplomacy etc. They would be heavily supervised by the custodes and the freedom they had to move outside the imperial palace complex was limited. Many terran lords would seek to build connections with the young primarch and would become mentors to them because, while they may be super geniuses in mind and combat, their social and political skills were lacking being raised in a bunker devoid of humanity. Some of the primarchs were also quite lonely and would seek human connection. Some would gain true friends and familial figures in unexpected places, while others would be manipulated or introduced to ideas that would spell their doom. The time spent in this stage varied from primarch to primarch because some just needed to be good fighters and generals, while others had other talents they needed to cultivate. Primarchs like Fulgrim, Lorgar, Guilliman, and Sanguinius would spend more time at the palace developing their respective skills, compared to primarchs like Lion, Khan, Angron, and Ferrus who would quickly move on to the next stage.
Another sidenote, due to there being 3 “generations” of primarchs, the oldest ones (1-5) never interacted with the youngest (11-20) because by the time they were out of the stage 1 pod, and entering stage 2, they would have been at stage 4 in the imperial palace in the overworld, not underground. This would create conflict as the younger ones despised their older brother's bossiness and the older ones would look down n the younger ones for lack of discipline, experience and other boomer shit. The middle generation of primarchs(6-10) would interact with both the youngest and oldest, putting them in the unique position of knowing all their brothers.
Stage 5 is when, with the blessing of Malcador and the emperor, the young primarch would be deemed ready to lead their legion and join the great crusade. There would be a whole ceremony where they would be officially recognized as generals (though Big E only attended the ceremonies of some of them, which caused more jealousy) and would join the great crusade either by A)under their father’s command or B)under one of their older brother’s command, to mentor the primarch as he came to his own.
Then, they would go and conquer the stars for the glory of the imperium.
Now that is a general rundown of what their childhood looked like, but oh boy, we have only scratched the surface. Tune in next time as I go into detail on how each of the primarchs grew up!