#make everyone sad cmon James Workshop

[ghostinthegallery]

Traitor Vulkan would make for great tragedy because he first believes Horus is a noble rebel, but when he realizes that Hours is following the Chaos Gods, who are no better than the Emperor of Mankind; Vulkan says 'Screw that, I'm not trading one tyrant for another' and forms an Independant faction.

Exactly! Double the betrayal, double the doubts, double the struggle of trying to avoid becoming the monster Vulkan believes himself to be. But in the end he must embrace that monstrousness, because he's the only one actually trying to protect human beings. Maybe even other forms of life as he learns about the universe. They need a defender, and it takes a monster to fight monsters.

And then you can have some Lamenters-level angst stories of Salamanders sacrificing themselves for a universe that has rejected them, but they persevere because it's right. They may be monsters, but they are true to themselves and the ideals their father is meant to embody.

And both the Emperor and Horus get to deal with the fact that the best and kindest of their family rejected them both. Sure, they will outwardly call Vulkan weak or a coward or a fool, and probably on some level believe those things. But on another level they'll know that rejection means they've been in the wrong this whole time. It's just too late to back down.