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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 [[Terra]] for ten thousand years. Although once a living man, his shattered body can no longer support life, and remains intact only by a combination of ancient technology and the sheer force of his will, itself sustained by the soul-sacrifice of countless millions of psykers.²

His will is omnipotent, extending across the million worlds that comprise his Imperium. For ten thousand years the Master of Mankind has served mankind, simultaneously carrying out a multitude of tasks vital to its survival and to the survival of the Imperium. 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. His immense psychic powers constantly keep the [[Chaos|Chaotic powers]] of the [[warpWarp]] at bay, preventing their intrusion into the material universe and protecting his people throughout the [[galaxy]].¹

The Emperor's role as guardian of Mankind mankind seems to have been predestined for him. Without the Emperor there would be no Imperium, little space travel, and no protection from the multitude of threats facing mankind. The Emperor knows that to protect his race he must survive as long as necessary for the emerging race of psychic humans to evolve sufficiently.²

Little is known about the Emperor's life before he emerged to reunite mankind during the Great Crusade. If anyone, only the Emperor himself remembers.² What is undisputed in all accounts, is that he was born to mortal parents many millennia ago.

According to the account given in the ''The Lost and the Damned'', his life spans almost fifty thousand years, he was born to human mortal parents , and his brothers and sisters were mortals. However the child who would become the Emperor was immortal and would be the first and greatest of the psykers born among humanity.

The Emperor, much later in his life revealed that he was born in the eighth millennium BCB.C., and his birthplace as Central Anatolia.

In ''Horus Rising'', according to Horus, the Emperor revealed to him that was born in '"Anatoly'".

The Emperor is the collective reincarnation of all the Shamansshamans, the psyker-like individuals who guided early mankind with their wisdom and prophetic powers. The entities that would became the four Great Powers of Chaos had not yet formed when the Emperor was born. But even before the birth of the Emperor, as humanity grew and progressed, the warp Warp began to become increasingly disturbed, and the shamans began to lose their ability to reincarnate - instead, upon dying their souls were being consumed by the creatures of the warpWarp. Eventually the shamans, unable to reincarnate, would become extinct, and without the shamans to guide them, humanity would fall prey to Chaos. All the shamans of earth Earth gathered to decide what must be done. In the end they decided to pool their energies by reincarnating in a single body. The thousands of shamans, as one, took poison, and as one, died. A year later the man who would become the Emperor was born. He would be immortal and so no longer need to reincarnate. As he grew older his powers began to manifest. Over many millennia, he travelled traveled among mankind, using his ancient wisdom to help where he could.³

The man who would later become known as 'the Emperor' first appears in Imperial records as one of the many warlords struggling for control of Terra during the later part of the [[Age of Strife]]. The Emperor undertook a series of campaigns against all the other warlords on the planet that would later become termed as the [[Unification Wars]]. During these wars the Emperor employed several military formations - such as the [[Geno Five-Two Chiliad]] - that consisted of genetically altered/engineered warriors, who played a significant role in his eventual victory. With this victory, the planet and population of Terra were at last unified under one rule; that of the Emperor. With this achievement behind him, the Emperor then set in motion his plans to take his purpose of uniting and guarding mankind out into the stars, to unify with the bastions of humanity scattered across the galaxy. This undertaking would become known as the [[Great Crusade]].⁴

The Emperor prepared extensively for the Great Crusade; he created the special [[Astropath|astro-telepath corps]] to link his eventual dominion together, and caused the creation of the [[Astronomican]], [[Image:EmperorwLegions.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The Emperor during the Great Crusade]]a supremely powerful signal device powered by the Emperor's own psychic might that would allow simplified and safer travel through the warp. Chief amongst his designs, however, were the creation of superhuman warriors, the logical extension of the gene-troopers already under his command. He had first undertaken the [[Primarch Project]], the creation of twenty infants from his own genetic code, designed to mature into powerful generals for his armies. However, this plan went awry with the intervention of the Chaos Powers. While accounts vary as to exactly what happened, the end of the tale is always the same; the Primarchs were cast into the warp and thought lost.⁴

The Emperor prepared extensively for the Great Crusade; he created the special [[Astropath|astrotelepath corps]] to link his eventual dominion together, and caused the creation of the [[Astronomican]], a supremely powerful signal device powered by the Emperor's own psychic might that would allow simplified and safer travel through the Warp. Chief amongst his designs, however, were the creation of superhuman warriors, the logical extension of the gene-troopers already under his command. He had first undertaken the [[Primarch Project]], the creation of twenty infants from his own genetic code, designed to mature into powerful generals for his armies. However, this plan went awry with the intervention of the Chaos Powers. While accounts vary as to exactly what happened, the end of the tale is always the same; the Primarchs were cast into the Warp and thought lost.⁴ In the aftermath of these events, the Emperor evolved a new plan. Using genetic material which had been derived from the Primarchs, he created a caste of warriors which would possess some of the qualities of the Primarchs. These successors to the genetically-altered warriors of the Unification era Era were the [[Legiones Astartes]], the [[Space Marine]]s of the [[First Founding]].³

With the final abatement of the warp Warp storms began the Great Crusade. The Emperor's forces rediscovered human worlds, cast out alien oppressors, and claimed new territory aplenty. Perhaps most importantly, the Emperor, leading his crusade, rediscovered his lost sons, the Primarchs. Scattered throughout space, the infants were found one-by-one, over a period of many decades, and reunited with their father and their kin. All were placed in command of the Astartes legions Legions created from their respective [[gene-seed]] and played their part in forging their father's Imperium.³,⁵

First amongst the Primarchs was [[Horus]], first discovered and first honouredhonored. Some great length of time into the Great Crusade, the Emperor decided to return to Terra and placed Horus in charge of the military advancement of his Imperium in his stead. Granting him the title of [[Warmaster]], the Emperor declared that the time had come for his sons to show him what great leaders they were. Turning his back on direct military interventions, the Emperor then created the [[Council of Terra]], the [[Imperial Tithe]] and expanded the civil governing bodies of the Imperium, before retiring in seclusion beneath the [[Imperial Palace]] to begin work upon the [[Golden Throne]].⁵ [[Image:Emperor_VS_Horus.jpg|thumb|right|The Emperor confronting Horus.|300px]]

[[Image:Emperor_VS_Horus.jpg|thumb|right|The Emperor confronting Horus|300px]]This turn of events did not please all of the Emperor's subjects, several of his sons in particular. In the final stages of the [[Great Crusade]], the Emperor's most trusted son [[Horus]] succumbed to Chaos temptation. Horus was told that the reason the Emperor had left the Great Crusade was so the he could attempt to reach godhood, abandon all his sons and betray one of the central tenants of the Great Crusade (to enlighten humanity and free it from the bonds of false gods). Horus saw it as his duty to save the Imperium 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 conflict in human history, and billions perished as the Traitor Legions tore apart the empire they had helped to forge.⁵

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 godsGods. After a tragic battle, and though heartbroken at the loss of his favored son, the Emperor finally slew Horus, though the struggle left him close to death. In this state he was found by [[Rogal Dorn]]. The dying Emperor dictated plans for the arcane life -support machine that would sustain his remaining cells for over ten thousand years, and he was subsequently interred in this altered version of the Golden Throne.⁵

The Emperor is confined within the Golden Throne, vast bio-mechanical biomechanical machinery forming the great Sanctum Imperialis, located deep within the continent-spanning complex on Terra known as the Imperial Palace. There the Emperor's physical form is sustained by carefully-maintained machinery.

Only through his power can the [[Astronomican]] beam its guiding light, allowing Imperial ships to navigate the warp Warp in relative safety. The Emperor is not just a beacon for space travel, however, but is said to continue to guide humanity through his [[Emperor's Tarot|Tarot]], and through dreams and visions given to selected individuals. It is also popularly 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, causing untold destruction.¹

Originally built to provide access to the [[Eldar]] [[Webway]], the Golden Throne took the form of a bulky machine-like chair suspended over gigantic mechanised mechanized doors made of gold metal. 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 center of his underground complex, known as the Imperial Dungeon. Even after the throneThrone's construction, the lab remained littered with other huge machines and storage crates. Hundreds of red-robed technicians and labourers laborers worked in the lab.⁵

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 warpWarp-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.⁵

The Golden Throne is connected to a massive warp Warp beacon known as the [[Astronomican]] which generates a system of signals making faster -than -light Warp travel in the [[Imperium]] possible².

In the last year of [[M41]], tech-priests Techpriests discovered failures in the mechanisms of the Golden Throne that are far beyond their ability to repair¹. [[Image:God-Emperor.jpg|thumb|right|The Emperor on the Golden Throne.]]

[[Image:God-Emperor.jpg|thumb|right|The Emperor on the Golden Throne]]At the outset of the Heresy, when [[Magnus|Magnus the Red]] used his sorcerous powers to warn the Emperor of Horus's treachery, he inadvertently 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]] and [[Sisters of Silence]] were left fighting a desperate battle to prevent the daemons from reaching the portal through into the Imperial Dungeon. 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|Malcador the Sigillite]]. Malcador perished performing this endeavourendeavor, and the mortally wounded Emperor was reinstated upon the Throne after his battle with Horus. At his instruction, it was then enhanced and converted into the life-sustaining form it currently bears.⁵

''"According to background revealed in the ''Realm of Chaos'' books:''"

After the defeat of Horus, the Emperor's soul is said to have dispersed from his maimed body, merging into the warpWarp. A tiny fraction of the Emperor's soul remained whole, awaiting to be reborn once more. This is the Star Child.³

There is a another possibility given for the Emperor's resurrection/rebirth. A hidden group that call themselves the [[Illuminati]] have learned from the Eldar's [[Black Library of Chaos|Black Library]] many truths of Chaos, as well as about the Sensei and the Fall of the Eldar. They realise realize the Emperor cannot survive in his current state forever, and eventually he will fail, and without the Emperor, Mankind will fall to Chaos like the Eldar. Such an event would create a fifth God of Chaos and create another Eye of Terror, one which would span the entire Imperium. They seek to prevent this by bringing about the rebirth of the Emperor.

==Additional informationInformation=====Third edition3rd Edition===A cryptic account of the Emperor's origins (appearing in the third edition ''3rd Edition Rulebook'') was written by Cripias, the final "Keeper of the Library Sanctus of Terra". 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.

After this "winvictory" 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.

*¹:''[[Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rulebook]]''*²:''[[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader]]''*³:''[[Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned]]'', ''[[Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness]]''*⁴:[[Legion (Novel)|''Legion'']] by [[Dan Abnett]]*⁵:[[Horus Heresy (Artbook Series)|''Horus Heresy'']]*⁶:''[[Warhammer 40,000 Compendium]]''*⁷:''[[Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition Rulebook]]''