Motherhood: The Tale of Three

"The Eldar had committed to their...fertility ritual in an attempt to bolster their population across the galaxy. But instead, their ritual of debauchery had birthed...something. Whatever was born, it had rivaled the Three in both power and scope. Its very birth had churned the Immaterium into becoming the cataclysm that shattered the galaxy.

You...you had plans to implement if you were going to save mankind. Plans you wish you weren’t necessary.

You sighed once more and wished Eve was here."

—Intro

Motherhood: The Tale of Three is an Alternate Universe Warhammer 40,000 fanfic by Older-than-Time on Sufficient Velocity. Beginning as an expanded version of a series of snippets largely set around the 31st Millennium, story features among others the tales of three immortal women, who by a turn of fate all come to raise three specific Primarchs:

Lion El'Jonson, now known as Crown Prince Mordred by Merdraut.

Sanguinius, now known as Gabriel of Baal Secundus by Eve.

Magnus the Red, now known as Solaire of Prospero by Anri.

Suffice to say, the presence of such female "Perpetuals" raising Primarchs would have far-reaching consequences for the burgeoning Imperium, the Great Crusade and the Emperor's ultimate plans.

Tropes used in Motherhood: The Tale of Three include:

• Adaptational Badass:
  • Malcador the Sigillite is revealed to have be an artificial Perpetual born during the fall of Troy. Malcador also gone by Judas Iscariot, Merlin and Douglas MacArthur in his long life.
  • Ollanius Persson this time around is shown to have led more high-profile lives at a few points over the millennia, including being Achilles and Omar Nelson Bradley.
• All Myths Are True: Sort of. Many of the Perpetuals are either the basis of various mythological and historical figures.
• Alternate Universe Fic: It doesn't take too long after the Emperor reunites with his "sons" that divergences from canon become even more pronounced.
• Deadpan Snarker: Eve, who has more than a few snarky and disparaging remarks on her husband and His exploits. Whether it’s on His decision to rename Gabriel Sanguinius or her recalling how the Unification Wars weren’t as one-sided as He tries to present them.
• Defector From Decadence: How Anri sees herself, having less than fond views of the Emperor and referring to Him instead as the "deceiver." She would then impart this to her “son” Solaire/Magnus.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Eve in particular tends to be called "Empress of Mankind" by the citizens of the Imperium at large.
• Expy:
  • Eve, in both her appearance and personality, is based on C.C. from Code Geass. She also has a few tinges of a genderbent Malcador in for good measure.
  • Merdraut is a combination of Saber/Artoria Pendragon, Ruler/Jeanne d'Arc and Saber of Red/Mordred from the Nasuverse. Indeed, her backstory not only has her being a bastard child of the legendary King Arthur (aka, the Emperor) before being an artificial Perpetual, but also has Jeanne as one of her many aliases over the millennia.
  • Anri, meanwhile, comes across as a an amalgamation of various characters from the Dark Souls series. This is further lampshaded by how she still managed to preserve some lore from the video games as inspiration for her cult, which would also influence her "son" Solaire/Magnus.
  • The United Human Empire of Albion can come off as a peculiar blend of the Kingdom of Bretonnia and the Tau Empire due to its simultaneously idealized culture and high technology.
• First-Name Basis: In a fashion. Eve is the only one among the Perpetual women who really gets to call the Emperor by what's heavily implied to be among his first names: Adam.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Eve had taken up quite a few names, titles and notorious nicknames over the millennia. But just before the Dark Age of Technology ended, she was simply known as “Kelly” by her co-workers in the diner she worked in on Baal Secundus.
• Freudian Excuse: Even after tens of thousands of years (along with bouts of therapy over that time), Merdraut never really got over her rejection by her supposed father-figure, King Arthur/the Emperor. This especially manifests in her efforts to make Albion a powerful realm that would subconsciously make the Emperor proud, as well as her trying to be a better parent than her father was. Even worse is how even before Merdraut was born, she had been unwillingly brainwashed by Morgan La Fay to view the Emperor as her father-figure instead of her actual one: the man who became Malcador the Sigillite.
• Grey and Gray Morality: Compared to Chaos, the major human factions by and large come across as this to each other.
• Happily Married: Downplayed. Eve and the Emperor don't always see eye to eye and have had some quarrels over their millennia-long lives, only reuniting upon His arrival on Baal Secundus after a particularly long separation. Nonetheless, they still clearly care for each other, with Eve remaining unashamedly loyal to her beloved.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Downplayed compared to Ollanius, but Eve prefers living out a quiet life whenever the opportunity arises. While she doesn't shirk from assuming power or being in the spotlight (to say nothing of her myriad exploits), she doesn't see that as being her destiny.
• Immortal Procreation Clause: Perpetuals in general are unable to reproduce naturally, often resorting to adoptions among others. Though it hasn't stopped some from finding ways to circumvent sterility.
• In Spite of a Nail: Played with.
  • Even with the renaming of the Primarchs, they still wind up using the names granted to them by the Emperor of Mankind. Though some of them still prefer to use the names given them by their Perpetual mothers.
  • While events like the Great Crusade still happen more or less on schedule, the presence of other human polities like Albion and the aforementioned Perpetuals throw a wrench on the Cabal's plans, who are still plotting behind the scenes.
  • Roboute Guilliman's backstory and subsequent role in the Imperium remain remarkably similar, albeit with Eve eventually taking Tarasha Euten's place as his closest advisor and respected confidant (with Euten herself becoming a dutiful advisor to Eve).
• Julius Beethoven Da Vinci: Many of the Perpetuals are revealed to have taken the guise of various mythological and historical figures of varying significance over the millennia.
• Just Before the End: There are a few glimpses of how life was like during the final days of the Dark Age of Technology, just before everything goes mad.
• King Incognito: Eve in particular prefers this kind of arrangement.
• Living Relic: While the Perpetuals themselves by and large are this by default in one way or another, some are much more so than others. Many of them have been around in time periods familiar to modern-day mankind, and still retain more than a few memories, cultural habits and personality tics from those eras.
• The Many Deaths of You: Eve intentionally suffers through this in order for the Emperor to successfully imbue her with the same strength as the Primarchs while retaining her Perpetual abilities.
• Meaningful Name: Merdraut is an alternate spelling of Mordred derived from Old Welsh. This not only reflects her identity as the original basis of the legendary Mordred but also her deep-seated issues that ultimately drove her against King Arthur/the Emperor even while striving subconsciously to meet His expectations.
• Not So Above It All: It's heavily implied that Anri may have written fanfic of Dark Souls and other videogames, which have somehow survived among her personal artifacts.
• Original Character: The Perpetual "mothers" themselves, though they're not the only ones. In addition to them, notably, are the two Lost Primarchs and their respective Lost Legions; unlike in canon, they're not only discovered but remain loyal to the Imperium.
• Space Romans:
  • Compared to the Imperium, the United Human Empire of Albion forged by Merdraut is based on an idealized, if technologically advanced re-imagining of Britannia and old Camelot.
  • Downplayed somewhat with the Sanctum of Sunlight, which was forged by Anri and Solaire/Magnus. Being based from Prospero, they're a blend between Medieval Europe and Ancient Egypt.
• Time Abyss: The Emperor and the other Perpetuals, by and large, have been around for since antiquity or some point in humanity's earlier history. Anri, meanwhile, can't really recall anything earlier than the 20th Century (her earliest memories being during the Holocaust), despite Eve and the Emperor having encountered her more than once generations before then.
• Unconventional Formatting: The Emperor's dialogue tends to be displayed using gold-colored text.