Highest Lord of Terra

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**KamikazeCanuck**

All great right and honourable titles but who's wields the most power in The Imperium of Man?

**DarknessEternal**

None, that's why they're an oligarchy and not a monarchy.

**KamikazeCanuck**

I voted for the Mechanicum. Having a disagreement with us? Well you don't get any bullets this week HA!

Oops forgot the Astronomican. In there now.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

DarknessEternal wrote:None, that's why they're an oligarchy and not a monarchy.

They are far from equal. That's like saying that all UN members are equal and there's no politics involved. For example the last two on the list aren't even permanent members. They need to be sponsored like the non-permenant members of the UN security council. There were other rotating possibilities but I chose those two because they seem the most powerful of the sloppy seconds. Surprisingly, Lord Commander Militant is not a permanent seat. I mean c'mon he's commander off every single gurdmen in the biggest army in the galaxy! He seemed a better choice than the ones I left out like "Head SoB" and "A Random Space Marine."

**MechaEmperor7000**

The Fabricator General by far. He represents the Adeptus Mechanicus, who is still technically a separate entity from the imperium (and that is no small deed), and they only get to keep this sovereignty because they hold a monopoly on the Imperium's tech. If they get pissed off everyone will have to go back to catching fish with a stick and living in straw huts or ruins.

**KamikazeCanuck**

I completely agree. He may be the only one the others fear. Sure Inquisition is scary but even they can't bring their powers to bear against large organizations like the others represent.

Also, has his own pesonal army of Titans and Skitaari - pretty badass.

**purplefood**

I was gonna vote for the Fabricator General but then i thought they wouldn't be able to move without the Astronomican or the Navigators and also the Ecclesiarch could just declare holy wars against people.
The Adeptus Custodes could say the Emperor told him that he should be in charge.
The Lord militant... well that's obvious.
To be honest the person with the least power is the head policeman guy (Chief Arbite) and even then he has a lot of power.

**KamikazeCanuck**

Yes, to play devil's advocate The Navigators are insanely powerful. Nothing moves without them. They are one of the organizations that has ancient pacts with everyone much like the mechanicum. No one dares to offend them in any way.

**purplefood**

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Yes, to play devil's advocate The Navigators are insanely powerful. Nothing moves without them. They are one of the organizations that has ancient pacts with everyone much like the mechanicum. No one dares to offend them in any way.

I never understood that. They are powerful and they have the Imperium beat but if it wanted to the Imperium could just issue th order to kill every single Navigator that didn't comply with it's new scheme of being a servant and not a master etc. Funny power dynamic.

**Mr Nobody**

I first thought the mechanicum because they can declare an embargo, but then I thought the master of the astronomicon can say the emeperor said so.

**MechaEmperor7000**

Mechanicus had FTL travel before the Emperor's resurgence, and only revere the Emperor as an aspect of the Machine God as per their agreement with the Imperium. If they wanted to they could probably break off from the imperium altogether without much consequence (relatively) on their end. The Imperium, however, would be utterly screwed if the Mechanicus did that. They would lack the priests to maintain their tech and lack the ability to produce replacements. It would crumble within just a few centuries (which isnt long on the galactic chart).

**sniperjolly**

The Fabricator General has, among other things, book keeping, an army, a navy, a religion, a bunch of psykers, assasins, the Emperor's personal bodyguards, and every single STC ever made EVER (that he never bothers to use... JERK) is immortal and controlls the second most powerfull faction in 40K, on top having a controlling intrest in the 1st... Yeah, tottaly him.

But Constantin Valdor could hijack the entire council when he really needs it, but he cant do that indefinately.

If we count "wields the most power in the IOM" meaning who has most sway on the council, it might just be a tie between the Administratum and the Machanum, with the Ministorium coming in close third. The administatum basically runs the council and has a lot to say, but the mechanum and Ministorium (to a lesser extent the LCM and navigators/astropaths, not that the psykers ever really speak out) can just say, "we wont support this" and s*** wont get done. Having half the council have de facto veto powers makes getting anything done really hard. (yay UN security council!)

Over all, the Fab-Gen is pretty strong on the council, AND is the head of the cult of making everything that makes the sun rise in the morning work and the army of doom, and his personal navy. Oh, and he is in charge of the Emperor's survival. Go him.

**Commissar Agro**

I voted the Fabricator General because the AdMech create pretty much everything for the Imperium from weapons of war to sheets of tin for construction (source: Eye of terror by Barrgington J. Baley). But thats not the only thing that makes them powerful...

Whilst reading the Eisenhorn trilogy. In Malleus, Esienhorn and key members of his staff are talking about a Warmaster and who could become a high lord of terra as a successor to a recently dead lord. They speak of a possible candidate, Lord Commander Cosimo, but this qoute proves that the AdMech have plenty of power.

His House is far too unpopular with the Adeptus Mechanicus, and without their consent, however tacit, no one ever makes it to high lord rank

Without their support your hopes of becoming one of the high lords is doomed! This IMO means they are the most powerful of the High lords, piss them off and your not getting anything.

**Mukkin'About**

I suppose the "master of the astronomican" is NOT the emperor
Without this astro guy, your parts don't go anywhere, your marines go undeployed. don't piss this guy off!

**KamikazeCanuck**

purplefood wrote:
KamikazeCanuck wrote:Yes, to play devil's advocate The Navigators are insanely powerful. Nothing moves without them. They are one of the organizations that has ancient pacts with everyone much like the mechanicum. No one dares to offend them in any way.

I never understood that. They are powerful and they have the Imperium beat but if it wanted to the Imperium could just issue th order to kill every single Navigator that didn't comply with it's new scheme of being a servant and not a master etc. Funny power dynamic.

One thing you never want to do is kill your navigator unless you really, really like wre you ar right now.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Mukkin'About wrote:I suppose the "master of the astronomican" is NOT the emperor
Without this astro guy, your parts don't go anywhere, your marines go undeployed. don't piss this guy off!

No, The Emperor is The Emperor the high lords are the ones who misinterpret his will for him. Of course the Astronomicon is extremely important but I'm not sure what The master of the Astronomican does. Probably coordinates with Inquisition about getting psykers.

**4M2A**

Navigators or master of the astronomicon. The other lords need (except for rare occasions) to take action to affect anything which will require the help of another high lord.

The navigators and the lord of astronomicon can just sit back for a while and let the the imperium fall apart to show how important they are.

All the other lords areas become useless if you can't transport people and goods.

**Lint**

The Grand Master of the Assinorium has the ability to take ANYONE out, and according to the HH books also holds another, public title as the head of another, public institution. So I'd say the Assasin Lord.

**KamikazeCanuck**

What I found shocking is that the head of the Imperial Navy has apparently never been a high lord. Not sure what the title would be Lord Admiral of The Imperial Navy or something like that. The importance of his branch and the complexity of his job cannot be denied so someone else must be vetoing him. Fabricator-General perhaps? I think AdMech have their own Navy too.

**GamzaTheChaos**

Assinorium because he can basically kill anyone he wants?

**Brother Heinrich**

I'm going to have to side with KamikazeCanuck on this one. The Adeptus Mechanicus wields by far the most power in the Imperium, Between their explorator fleets, the collegia titanica, and the skitarii legions, they've got all the bases covered, as aforementioned they pull the plug and the Imperium dies. Granted one cannot survive without the other, but in terms of power the Mechanicus definitely holds the high hand.

**4M2A**

The high lord of Assassinorum can't take anyone out.

The assassin temples can't target any important people without the consent of at least 3 (IIRC) high lords. This was put into place because one of the previous lords of the assassinorum just killed everyone who disagreed with him.

Without the navigators or the astronomicon those admech aren't going anywhere. They may have lots of resources but they are unabable to use them. Their armies will be out manouvered and they will be unable to supply the skitari the forge worlds can only prodcue so much ammo before they run out of materials. They would all be stuck on forge worlds which are completely nable to sustain life without outside help, with all those factories there is no room to produce the food which used to be brought in. All their powerful weapons (titans, Superheavies, experimental weapons) will be stuck in one place.

**KamikazeCanuck**

Brother Heinrich wrote:I'm going to have to side with KamikazeCanuck on this one. The Adeptus Mechanicus wields by far the most power in the Imperium, Between their explorator fleets, the collegia titanica, and the skitarii legions, they've got all the bases covered, as aforementioned they pull the plug and the Imperium dies. Granted one cannot survive without the other, but in terms of power the Mechanicus definitely holds the high hand.

Explorator Fleets are their own entity with a rotating seat by the title The Speaker for the Chartist Captains. They are very important too often acting as The Imperium's supply lines and resource finders. I left them off convinced that they weren't that powerful...

more info here:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/High_Lords_of_Terra

**GamzaTheChaos**

I am sure he can find ways around that. I bet some would be loyal to him only and obey his orders without question.

**KamikazeCanuck**

Oh he can assassinate anyone he wants the question is what will the political fallout be?

**Augustus**

CHUCK NORRIS

**KamikazeCanuck**

ugh, anyways I guess I should have figure it would be an AdMecha runaway. They ranaway with this http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/301764.page too. They are quite popular but for arguments sake I'll say the only one that the fluff may actually directly say is the most powerful is the Administratum.
They actually run the Imperium and apparently are the largest of all the branchs. Yes, their are actually more bureaucrats and file clerk than Imperial Guardsmen! sigh, this is why you don't work Imperium.

**purplefood**

I suppose that the AdMech could just get everyone with robot limbs to just throttle themselves...
Although the Navigators and the Master of the Astronomican could just stop all ships...

**MechaEmperor7000**

The Power struggle seems to be with the Ad Mechanic and the Astronomican. However the Astronomican cant simply just *stop* space Travel, that will cripple them along with anyone they're trying to target. In addition, the Ad Mechanic can travel into space independantly of the Astronomican, they have the ships and were traveling long before the Emperor showed up. It might be harder but they can do it. They also have their own standing forces, as everyone has said already, as well as holding the monopoly on the Imperium's tech. If they wanted to cut off the IoM from technology cold turkey they could, without reprocussions to themselves. That is perhaps why they beat the Astronomican in power, simply because they can do all of that with little to no detriment to themselves, whereas any other High Lord of terra would either face political backlash or suffer actual consequences.

**EmilCrane**

The thing about the imperium is the balance of power, everyone relies on everyone else to function. However, out of all those I'd say the ones with the most clout are The Fabricator general, the Mastaers of the Astronomican and Administratum and the Lord Commander Millitant.

The Administratum runs the imperium, without him it would just be a lose collection of planets, he enforces tithes and has the power to order the invasion of a planet if they're behind on their tithes, but even he relies on others.

The guard is the one everyone wants on their side, because no one else has the power to stop every enemy of man at the same time.

The astronomican and the Ad-Mech have already been covered.

However, the others lords all have critical powers in the imperium. Especially the inquisition.

**JazzyJ**

Gonna have to say the man who represents the inquisition in the high lords.He seems to be the most dangerous.Second behind him id say admech.

**KamikazeCanuck**

No respect for The Ecclesiarch? He's the real Space-Pope - but back when the Real-Pope was the most powerful man on the planet and then x10. All must follow his religon or be declared Heretic. Titanicus was great because it showed that even the right thinking Mechanicum folk know they must show deference to the Imperial Cult.

Spoiler:

Also, right or wrong, The Ecclesiarch is the only Lord who can say he knows what The Emperor's will actually (is due to his holiness) and there's nothing the others can say.