#and speaking from experience you'll only get noticed by people higher up in the hierarchy if something is blatantly falling apart

[thousandbuns]

I had an idea how to "solve" the issue of "40K media invoking Abaddon all willy-nilly in the dumbest of contexts", like DoW2: Retribution having Abaddon micromanage Eliphas' grudge-campaign against Blood Ravens (a small, battered chapter of relative nobodies in an equally insignificant corner of the galaxy) or "Soul Hunter" and the plotline about Abaddon and the billionth Sorcerer on his payroll both getting very sweaty about bringing in one specific Night Lord (who does have some clout and historical significance... for Night Lords, maybe*, and whose divination gift is only "impressive" and "special" because ADB says so**):

Warp-based automatic secretary.

It works like this: you grab some Sorcerers skilled in illusion and mind-reading, put them in what's essentially a magic call-center, and whenever some two-bit nobody warlord tries to dial you up and pester you about the hundredth "this is blatantly my personal issue and frankly a gross misuse of Black Legion's resources" campaign, you just have the warlocks conjure up a convincing enough illusion of yourself acting deeply invested in all that nonsense and pressuring the commander to act fast and efficient. Meanwhile your accounting and logistics division assign the bare minimum of armor, weaponry and supplies to that fleet and only notify you if Azkul the Deprecated's Individual Hangups Jaunt goes over the budget, just so you're aware of this loss in the grand scheme of things. Your subordinates will most likely schedule an extra supply raid to make up for it anyway.

That way none of those losers are directly tugging at your sleeve and you don't have to worry that their dumb little escapades will put a dent in your pocket. Your undivided attention can remain on plotting how to deal with Indomitus Crusade and sliding into Huron Blackheart's DMs to call him a smelly upstart bitch.

*) Based on the fact that Ruven had no qualms about jumping ship over to the Black Legion even before Talos was there, how fractured Night Lords are, and how Talos is specifically one of the few people who sincerely cares about whatever disjointed nonsense passes for Curze's philosophy and legacy? I'd say bringing him over to BL isn't that important and it's just Ruven trying to resolve his personal grudges with Legion's resources. Much like Eliphas.

**) Like yeah, sure, you have your fortune-telling epilepsy, Talos, shame that Abby can just walk down the street and hit on that one ex-Thousand Son Corvidae who can see the future without having to go into fits for 72 hours, or consult one of many daemon oracles or even greater daemons. He can probably stage a ritual to dial up Kairos the fucking Fateweaver and have his Sorcerer covens try to decipher whatever nonsense it spewed at them. There's even a good chance Tzeentch won't purposefully muddle the visions too much because Abby is the Gods' Chosen Loser and he deserves a treat from time to time.