Emperor of Mankind

Template:IntWik The Emperor of Mankind is the leader of the human Imperium, and Father, Guardian and God of his race. He has sat immobile within the Golden Throne of Earth for ten thousand years. Although once a living man, his shattered body can no longer support life, and remains intact by a spirit itself sustained by the soul-sacrifice of countless millions.

Through his Imperium, mankind is held together and forms one of the strongest races in the galaxy, and united, mankind is able to survive the myriad of threats it faces. His rule has been long and necessarily harsh.

The Emperor is at the very center of the Imperium, simultaneously carrying out a multitude of vital tasks. Although he is not directly involved in the day to day running of the Imperium, he dictates to the High Lords the most important and far-reaching decisions. All at once he guides his race through the Emperor's Tarot, soul-binds psykers, holds audiences with his most important servants and beams the Astronomican beacon. He is said to constantly battle Chaos and prevent its intrusion upon the material universe. He must be constantly vigilant throughout the entire Imperium.

After the Horus Heresy, the Emperor ascended to godhood. Now, his worship is regulated by the Ecclesiarchy, his law enforced by the Adeptus Arbites, his form guarded by the Adeptus Custodes, and his people protected from the horrors of the galaxy and from even themselves by the Inquisition.

File:Emperor40k.jpg

The Emperor of Mankind

History

Origins

In the current background, the Emperor's history prior to the Horus Heresy is not detailed. Realm of Chaos described the Emperor's origin, and his history before his rise to power. However, with the current state of the Imperium, what matters most is the Horus Heresy, the Emperor's sacrifice for mankind, and his current worship.

Horus Heresy

But in the final stages of the Great Crusade the Emperor's most trusted son, Horus succumbed to Chaos and turned on his father. Having corrupted fully half of the Space Marine Legions, Horus led them against the Emperor and plunged the fledgling galactic Empire into a colossal civil war. This conflict became the most terrible in human history, and billions perished as the Traitor Legions tore apart the Empire they had helped to forge.

The last act of this terrible treachery was played out above Terra, as the Emperor led a desperate teleport assault against Horus' flagship. Though the Emperor was a being of unfathomable psychic and physical might, Horus had become mighty indeed, bloated with the powers of all four Chaos gods. The Emperor finally slew his favoured son - Horus was wounded after fighting and slaying his brother Primarch Sanguinius of the Blood Angels - though the deed left him close to death, and in this state Rogal Dorn found him and returned him to Terra. Here, the rapidly ailing Emperor of Mankind dictated plans for the arcane life support machine that would sustain his remaining cells for over ten thousand years.

Ascendence

The Emperor now resides upon the Golden Throne. It is a complex device located in the vast complex known as the Emperor's Palace, and located on Terra. There the Emperor's physical form is sustained by carefully-maintained machinery. The Golden Throne is connected to a massive warp beacon known as the Astronomican which generates a system of signals making faster than light Warp travel in the Imperium possible.

The Emperor, Custodians, Imperial Palace and the Golden Throne

Golden Throne

Physically, the Emperor of Mankind is little more than a withered corpse. The last surviving cells in his shattered body are sustained by the Golden Throne, providing an anchor for the Emperor's spirit, which extends across the entire Imperium. While his body is sustained, his will endures.

His existence is said to be an unending torment. His every thought is enslaved to the task of ruling, guiding and protecting his race. Ultimately it is only his will to endure that allows him to survive, as he knows his death would lead to the destruction of the Imperium and leave mankind without the guidance it needs to survive.

Only through his power can the Astronomican beam its guiding light, allowing Imperial ships to navigate the warp in moderate safety. The Emperor is not just a beacon for space travel, however, but is said to continue to guide humanity through his Tarot, and through dreams and visions given to selected individuals. It is also generally believed that he created the warp storm known as the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath during the Age of Apostasy, and that the Emperor's will holds Chaos at bay. Were it not for his unceasing struggle, the Chaos of the Warp would flood the material realm with madness and horror.

Other Accounts

Although the Emperor's history is described in the original version of Warhammer (particularly in the Realm of Chaos books), 40K's current editions do not go into any detail about his history beyond the Heresy.

In Horus Rising, the Emperor told Horus that he was born in "Anatoly", which is in line with the original background stating he was born in central Anatolia.

First Edition

Origins

The original name of The Emperor is not known. Of what is known, is known only by the Emperor himself: During Mankind's ancient past the Chaos Gods were yet to be born, and Mankind always had close links to the warp. Earth's shamans possessed prophetic powers and reincarnated after death. As Mankind grew and prospered however, the warp increasingly became influenced by the character of Mankind. Rather than being reborn into a new body, the shamans' souls were being consumed by the malign entities being created in the warp. All the shamans of Earth gathered at one place to decide what must be done. Presumably, thousands were there, and after many years of debate, they came to the conclusion that they had only two or three generations left before they lost the ability to reincarnate altogether, and that without their guidance, mankind would fall prey to the Chaos of the warp. They decided they must take their own lives in order to be reborn into a single, immortal body. A year after, the Emperor was born, the reincarnation of all Earth's shamans.

The Emperor was born in the 8th millennium BC, in central Anatolia and although born to normal human parents, he is the first and greatest psyker. He was also immortal and as he aged he gradually remembered his thousands of past lives. For thousands of years he guided and watched humanity develop. During the Dark Age of Technology he was a facilitator of many of the most important inventions. Although the Emperor was powerless to prevent the Age of Strife, towards its end he took a more direct hand in leading mankind. Becoming a warlord of the techno-barbarian warriors of Earth, he conquered the warring factions and united Terra.

With the assistance of the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars, the Emperor created the first Space Marines and the fleets of interstellar ships that would carry his armies across galactic space, to begin the Great Crusade that would unify mankind into one Imperium. The Emperor also created the Primarchs from whom the Space Marines' gene-seed was developed. The Chaos gods, however, sought to thwart his plan. The Primarchs were sucked into the warp, and scattered across the galaxy. During the Great Crusade all of the Primarchs were found and united with their Space Marine Legion. However the Emperor's most trusted servant, the Primarch Horus fell to Chaos and betrayed the Emperor, and along with nearly half the Space Marine Legions, started a massive civil war for control of humanity. This rebellion became known as the Horus Heresy. Though the Emperor defeated Horus, he was all but destroyed in the battle; only the life-supporting Golden Throne has sustained his living corpse.

Star Child Theory

The Star Child Theory has two aspects: the first is that the Emperor's soul is currently forming as a new entity (the Star Child) in the warp and that he will be reborn, and the second is that the Emperor had children.¹

Over the almost 40,000 years the Emperor walked among mankind he formed many families and fathered children. A few of his descendants have inherited the powers of the Star Child. These are the Sensei. A hidden group that call themselves the Illuminati know the Emperor is failing. They also know of the Fall of the Eldar and seek to prevent man's own fall to Chaos. The Fall of Man to Chaos would create a new Chaos god, and with its birth, a new warp/real space overlap, encompassing the entire Imperium. They gather the Sensei together, protect them from Inquisition, and pave the way for the rebirth of the Emperor. Their plan is ultimately to sacrifice the Sensei to the Emperor at the moment the Emperor finally fails; he will be renewed, and be reborn as the Sensei-Emperor to again lead his race in person.

While the Star Child background was originally introduced in the original 40K version, and dismissed as heretical in 3rd edition, the current Inquisition's Thorians believe in a remarkably similar concept.

Third Edition

The account of the Emperor in Third Edition was written by the final "Keeper of the Library Sanctus of Terra", Cripias as included in the Rulebook. This account was later deemed "heretical" and kept from being published. The account was passed down to each Keeper, starting from the First Keeper, Solomon.

In the beginning, the "First Age of Man", the Emperor was hidden. It was the Golden Age and the Emperor prepares Earth for mankind. The people that existed with the Emperor before Mankind were called the "Golden Race". The second group were called the "Stone Race". The Stone Race then built ships that took both races across the galaxy. The Golden Age ends in the 21st Millenium.

Until the 26th Millenium, also called the Dark Age of Technology, the Stone Men were busy creating many things, such as the "Iron Men", or robots. Soon after, the Stone Men and Iron Men fight amongst themselves. The Stone Men eventually defeat all of the Iron Men.

After this "win" against the Iron Men, the Age of Strife comes and the Stone Men fight amongst themselves. After five thousand years of conflict, the Emperor finally emerges. He conquers and combines the race of men together, leading them. After creating the Space Marines, the Emperor crusades across the galaxy and reclaims Man's former glory. Soon after, the Horus Heresy occurs and the Emperor ascends.

Horus Heresy Books

There are many different and varied accounts in the Horus Heresy series of artbooks created for the Horus Heresy card game. These books are not part of the standard canon history and contain details that exist only within the card game version.

Visions of Death

The Imperial Webway

Construction of the Golden Throne began before the Horus Heresy. It originally took the form of a bulky machine-like chair suspended over gigantic mechanised doors made of gold metal which blocked a portal to the Eldar Webway. The doors were said to be large enough for a Warhound Scout Titan to walk through unbowed. The chair was linked to the portal by huge bundles of cables, wires and conduits. The whole machine was made of the same golden metal.

The throne was built at one end of a vast hall big enough to house up to six fully equipped Space Marine Companies. This was the Emperor's main laboratory, which was itself at the centre of his underground complex, known as the Imperial Dungeon. Even after the throne's construction, the lab remained littered with other huge machines and storage crates. Hundreds of red-robed technicians and labourers worked in the lab.

The Emperor built the throne as a means of entering the webway. Having this fixed point of entry was meant to free humanity from its reliance on warp-ships and astrotelepathy, since humans could simply enter the webway and emerge wherever they chose in the galaxy.

He sent armies of workers through the portal and had them construct a new short section of webway linking to the rest of the abandoned Eldar network. Since the original webway was built of a psychically resistant material which the humans could not replicate, the Emperor used his powers, via the Golden Throne, to protect the human-built section from the Warp.

The Horus Heresy Disaster

When Magnus the Red used his sorcerous powers to warn the Emperor of Horus's treachery, he inadvertantly created huge holes in the Emperor's psychic shield. Daemons poured into the human-built portion of the webway and slaughtered thousands of Adeptus Mechanicus workers there. The Custodian Guard were left fighting a desperate battle to prevent the daemons from reaching the portal through into the Imperial Dungeon. Alongside the Emperor's Custodian bodyguard was a contingent of the Sisters of Silence.

Eventually the Imperial forces had to abandon the webway and retreat back into the Imperial Palace. The portal was closed but only the psychic power of the Emperor was enough to keep it that way so he was forced to remain on the Golden Throne or find a suitable replacement.

When the Emperor was forced to battle Horus on board the Sons of Horus flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, his place on the throne was taken briefly by Malcador the Sigillite.

Sources

• ¹ Realm of Chaos
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, by Rick Priestley
• Codex Imperialis, by Rick Priestley
• Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition Rulebook
• Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition Rulebook
• Inquistor Rulebook, by Gav Thorpe
• Horus Heresy: Visions of Death