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So basically he's in a coma?

My own personal opinion considering what I've read of the fluff garnered over the years.

The Emperor is dead in the form he was once known to the material universe.

The Emperor was never a 'single' consciousness according to much fluff in the first place (the multitude of 'visions' and facets people saw while trying to discern an image while he was alive). His power after being intered on the throne became dispersed among its many components in the warp and elsewhere. His powers are greatly diminished due to this dispersal, but great enough to affect the material universe in small ways.

The components of his consciousness may be gathered together once more in a single vessel according to fluff, but how this will take place remains to be seen... if at all.

I'm pretty sure that the reason for everyone seeing a different face was him using his powers to make himself appear perfect to those who saw him.

Durza wrote:I'm pretty sure that the reason for everyone seeing a different face was him using his powers to make himself appear perfect to those who saw him.

I think there is more to it than that.

In addition to what I mentioned in my previous post certain fluff indicates he is, in fact, born of the self-sacrifice of a multitude of ancient Terran 'Shaman' to create a being to defend mankind from chaos. Those facets may be those souls carried in a single vessel.

His appearance doesn't seem to stay fixed which would allow him to appear perfect to an observer, instead it seems to shift. But, perhaps this is how Marines see him only and the average citizen sees that facet or 'soul' if you will which corresponds to their vision of what the Emperor is or at least should be in accordance with their expectations.

I thought the Shamans had been retconned away?

Not at all,

Nothing has been written on this subject since the dark ages of 40k(1980 )

They should probably address that. And give a closer estimate to the ages of the Chaos gods than 8000BC-1400AD

Chaos can't have an exact age. They may have been formed by mortal actions around 8000-1400BC, but they formed in the Warp. Outside of time and space, so they could have effects "before" they came into existance.

I still don't see how the Emperor could be older than Khorne.

Durza wrote:I still don't see how the Emperor could be older than Khorne.

That is not the worst part, Emperor is not older but Khorne became sentient somewhere in year 2500.

How? Humans didn't invent war.

Well, think of it like this. The chaos gods power waxes and wanes depending on whatever is going on at the time. Also under them is minor powers (or used to be). So for example before the EoT swallowed the Eldar home worlds Slaanesh was a small player, probably just started as a malevolant little daemon when someone thought up S&M. As worlds took over Slaanesh gained in power and therefore standing and sentience. Slaanesh started having hopes and plans, influencing the eldar to continue their pratices until full sentience was reached and beyond.
So Khorne was around as aggression was, but didn't achieve sentience until there was enough of it to fuel the gathering emotions in the warp that formed him.

Omegus wrote:Well, the rationale behind that is that some may not accept his rebirth, which would prompt a civil war, and perhaps more importantly, they have no idea how sane he is after being stuck in a port-a-potty for 10,000 years.

That passage is actually right after he is interred into the Golden Throne. Not in the 'current' time. Just a minor but important correction.

Durza wrote:How? Humans didn't invent war.

No they didn't it is just a coincidence that he came to be at that time. Remember all the other Gods, besides Slaanesh had extremely slow births

Brother Coa wrote:

Durza wrote:I still don't see how the Emperor could be older than Khorne.

That is not the worst part, Emperor is not older but Khorne became sentient somewhere in year 2500.

Well the warp first started becoming violent during the war between the necrons and the old ones. Before then the warp was calm. It seemed like only after the birth of the Eldar did the warp start having waves. One could say that the chaos gods in essence came about then.

However, the necrons almost killed off all life. Which would include the eldar and orks. This would reduce the number of living things that would have an influence on the warp in the universe greatly. With Eldar being such slow to populate species it would take centuries before their psychic imprint became of any concern. Similarly while the Orks would become quite populous quite quickly, their influence on the warp is 'unique'.

As such, I can believe that the chaos gods only really started gaining sentience and power when humans started becoming more populous.

Khorne has been in existence since the start of time and has also never existed, since their is no time or date in the warp the Chaos Gods can exist and not exist at any time. If the Gods of Chaos where to be measured on a galactic timeline then Khorne would have been the first of the four meaning the Emperor could not nearly be as old as him.

SylvanaSekNadin wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:

Durza wrote:I still don't see how the Emperor could be older than Khorne.

That is not the worst part, Emperor is not older but Khorne became sentient somewhere in year 2500.

Well the warp first started becoming violent during the war between the necrons and the old ones. Before then the warp was calm. It seemed like only after the birth of the Eldar did the warp start having waves. One could say that the chaos gods in essence came about then.

However, the necrons almost killed off all life. Which would include the eldar and orks. This would reduce the number of living things that would have an influence on the warp in the universe greatly. With Eldar being such slow to populate species it would take centuries before their psychic imprint became of any concern. Similarly while the Orks would become quite populous quite quickly, their influence on the warp is 'unique'.

As such, I can believe that the chaos gods only really started gaining sentience and power when humans started becoming more populous.

The Eldar and Orks weren't alone before humans come along. Look at the Cabal. There were at least eight species in it.

Mark my words, the emperor lives in the warp, and matt ward knows it. Brace yourself for the new codex: Chaos angels, the emperors eternal servants.

Chaos angels?

blood reaper wrote:Khorne has been in existence since the start of time and has also never existed, since their is no time or date in the warp the Chaos Gods can exist and not exist at any time. If the Gods of Chaos where to be measured on a galactic timeline then Khorne would have been the first of the four meaning the Emperor could not nearly be as old as him.

You are completely and absolutely wrong.

Omegus wrote:

blood reaper wrote:Khorne has been in existence since the start of time and has also never existed, since their is no time or date in the warp the Chaos Gods can exist and not exist at any time. If the Gods of Chaos where to be measured on a galactic timeline then Khorne would have been the first of the four meaning the Emperor could not nearly be as old as him.

You are completely and absolutely wrong.

Explain, please.

The Warp does generally follow time, it just has portions that flow backwards for a while. This means that the time of the Chaos gods' births can be measured, and there was a time when they didn't exist. According to the given timeline, Khorne is at best the same age as the Emperor.

Yes, he is.

He supports the theocracy to an extent, through his blessings of Imperial Saints and Living Saints, as well as towards his blessings of Sisters of Battle.

There are other races that pre-date Humanity, but they are small in population. There's a reason they were never armies in 40k.

Humanity was the first intelligent, and psychically active species to become prevalent in the galaxy since the Necron war.

DarknessEternal wrote:Humanity was the first intelligent, and psychically active species to become prevalent in the galaxy since the Necron war.

Source?

Regardless, Orks predate humans and VASTLY ounumber humanity.

Orks were active during the Necron war.

And the source is all of 40k's background material. Where were the other species of vast empires humanity encountered in their galactic expansion? There weren't any. Just orks and eldar, and eldar weren't all that vast.

DarknessEternal wrote:Where were the other species of vast empires humanity encountered in their galactic expansion? There weren't any.

There's no evidence of this. The information about humanity from when we left Earth to the time of the Great Crusade is too vague. In fact, from what I recall, humans in that era DID trade with xenos of various types.

Furthermore, you're moving the goalposts, as that's not what you initially claimed anyway. You merely said "prevalent", not "vast empires".

Melissia wrote:
Regardless, Orks predate humans and VASTLY ounumber humanity.

But orks already have their own gods in the warp. Orkish emotions feed Gork and Mork, not Khorne and Tzeentch...

Still, the fluff is rather vague on this. If xenos were irrelevant to the Chaos Gods they'd ignore them, and it's pretty clear that they don't.

It depends on the race. For example, Tau have such bland emotions and weak souls (no, not Blank souls, stop saying that Tau fanboys) that they're just unattractive-- nevermind that they're a young race. Orks are protected from Chaos by their very nature. Eldar DO suffer the predations of Chaos, and must spend every waking moment escaping or otherwise circumventing it. Tyranids don't get corrupted as long as they're connected to the hive mind.

But other minor races are more effected. The Hrud, for example, are deeply entwined with the Warp, and possibly one or more Chaos Gods.

Melissia wrote:
Furthermore, you're moving the goalposts, as that's not what you initially claimed anyway. You merely said "prevalent", not "vast empires".

No other known species that was both intelligent and psychically active were http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prevalent until the rise of Humanity.

It's stated numerous times that the previous dominant species was the Eldar. And their history never mentions any one in between their time and humanity's time.