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Before I start this, I hope this doesn't become a religious debate, that was never my intention when writing this. The idea was how the Imperium today would look at its past and interpret it. So bear with me here...

[BY ORDER OF HIS MOST HOLY MAJESTY THE GOD-EMPEROR OF TERRA]
[SEQUESTERED INQUISITORIAL DOSSIERS AUTHORISED PERSONS ONLY]
[CASE FILE: CS-324-41-S12-85]
[LOCATION: Anargo Primus]
[DATE: 324.M41]

My lords,

Hereby I file the eighty-fifth report on humanity’s history before the Emperor and His sons brought illumination across the stars by creating the Imperium. The subject of this report is a very ancient, but crucial figure in our history known as the Anointed One. Not only has this man influenced life on Terra for many centuries, his birth seems to form the basis of our Imperial calendar. Who was the Anointed One? Some have claimed he was a priest, others believe he was a mighty warlord. There has been speculation by some that he might have been our God-Emperor’s own son or even a projection of the Emperor. Another claim that has been made is that the Anointed One was a renegade psyker, and might even have been a follower of the Ruinous Powers. Information to confirm any of these speculations is rare to find. The God-Emperor’s armies had destroyed almost all data regarding the Anointed One on Terra itself during the Unification Wars before the formation of our glorious Imperium. For this reason I have been forced to gather data from other sources such as libraries, historians and the various archives of the Holy Inquisition the remainders of the Rememberancer Order and even the Librarium of the Adeptus Astartes of the Ultramarines on Macragge.

It is said that the Anointed One was born in a land known as Ysrl, a land east from the Mediterranean Dust Bowl, which in those days was a sea. His birth is rather curious; various sources claim that his birth was not the result of conventional reproduction. Books in the library on Kaleb IV argue that there was no biological father involved, theorizing that the Anointed One might have been some form of clone. This theory of course is ludicrous since humanity did not possess the technological capabilities of cloning. [NAME PURGED BY AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY INQUISITION], a scriptor historicus from Anargo Primus, believed that the Anointed One was actually a son of the Emperor through non-sexual reproduction. He kept this belief, even proclaiming it as he was burning on the stake. Another scriptor historicus, [NAME PURGED BY AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY INQUISITION], from Necromunda wrote a transcript in which he claimed that the Anointed One’s birth was the result of daemonic possession. He argued that a daemon had possessed the mother, manifesting itself in the womb as a means of escape in human form. A book originating from Prospero’s ancient libraries found in the private collection of Selus’ governor seems to support this argument. Others, such as [NAME PURGED BY AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY INQUISITION] of the Ecclessiarchy and [NAME PURGED BY AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY INQUISITION], Rememberancer Archivist, have proclaimed that the Anointed One was actually the God-Emperor Himself, prematurely attempting to unite Terra.

Some have claimed that this theory is reinforced by the lack of information on the Anointed One’s childhood. They argue that the lack of this data means that he might never have been a child, emerging as an adult. If this is the case it might partly explain the belief that the Anointed One was the Emperor. According to audio recordings of a conversation between the God-Emperor and Holy Terra’s first High Lord, Primarch Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines, show that the Emperor was already eight millennia old during the Anointed One’s life. This would provide the possibility that the Emperor himself might have been the Anointed One.

Data regarding the Anointed One’s adult life and role he had seems to be divided into two paradigms. The first one is the militant view of the Anointed One whilst the second one could be deemed as the religious perspective. The militant view depicts the Anointed One was a rebel prince who sought to become the ruler of Ysrl, removing the military regime from the Tali Peninsula from power. The sources following this first paradigm argue that the Anointed One was waging both a military and political campaign against the ruling order. A publication from the Rememberancer Archives, [NAME PURGED BY AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY INQUISITION], that included rough translation of ancient Terran texts, argued that the Anointed One set up not only to rule Ysrl, but to rule all of Terra in the name of his divine father. This, the publication continues, might mean that the Anointed One was not the Emperor at all, but functioned as some sort of proxy for the God-Emperor in an early attempt to unit all of Terra under a single banner. The religious perspective does not seem to deviate from the militant view as in that both believe that the Anointed One sought to spread his influence across the lands. But where the militant view is based on the idea that the Anointed One desire to spread his influence by removing the Talian rulers from power and conquering their lands, the religious perspective describes the Anointed One was a priest like figure who sought to undermine the Talian regime through religious propaganda. Followers of this paradigm therefore refuse to believe that the Anointed One was the God-Emperor or even His proxy, but rather that the Anointed One was a heretic, a follower of the Ruinous Powers even.

Information on pre-Imperial times is hard to find and information on psykers in pre-Imperial times is even harder to find. The Anointed One is described to having been able to perform miracles such as changing the chemical composition of liquids. If this is the case, he could be nothing less than a rogue psyker. This theory does strengthen the belief that the Anointed One might have been possessed by a daemon. The discovery of a psyker than ancient is more than interesting since it would mean that this data provides evidence that psykers other than the God-Emperor have been present amongst our species for many thousands of years before the Old Night. The Anointed One being a psyker may have been the reason why the people of Ysrl eventually turned against him. Various sources state that either one or multiple of his closest lieutenants betrayed the Anointed One. Some have even been that bold in their heretical beliefs as to draw parallels between the Anointed One’s demise and the betrayal carried out by the Arch-Heretic Horus Lupercal. There have been some contradictions and discrepancies regarding the Anointed One’s demise, but most sources seem to agree on the general line regarding his end. The Anointed One was betrayed by somebody very close to him; the Talian rulers managed to capture the rebel; the Antoined One was sentenced to death.

The Anointed One was executed through a method that could be respected by many in the Imperium today. His hand and feet were nailed to a piece of wood, stretching his limbs, causing one to die a slow and painful death. A scroll found in a library on Ual VI also mentions the Anointed One’s execution, but describes the events differently. Instead of being hung on a piece of wood to die a slow death, the Anointed One was killed by the spear of a Talian soldier.

Even more interesting are the events after the Anointed One’s death. Several sources, such as the eccentric scriptor historicus [NAME PURGED BY AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY INQUISITION], have stated that several days after his death, the Anointed One seemed to have risen from his tomb. If this were the case, the arguments for daemonic possession would be reinforced. It is not unknown for bodies of those who had been possessed to still move and talk as if alive after being killed. As long as the daemon inside the host body has not been removed, the body is still able to function. The Anointed One’s lieutenants proclaimed that their movement was not defeated, despite their leader’s death. They continued resisting their Talian overlords by infiltrating their capital, Roma, and setting up religious cults within the city. It took many years but eventually all in the Talian Empire, which covered large parts of Europa and Nordafrik, were worshipping the martyred Anointed One. In the centuries following his death, the Anointed One’s worshippers continued to spread their faith across the rest of Terra’s continent; entire continents were purged of their populations through this conquest and through this decimation the Anointed One’s faith managed to become one of the dominant faiths on Terra in the millennia preceding the Dark Age of Technology. During these ten thousand years the Anointed One’s religion seemed almost have faded away entirely, but the Old Night saw a resurgence of this faith. Proof that this religion was a heresy came when the Emperor’s forced destroyed its last strongholds on Terra and almost erased it from history in its entirely. The warriors in Thunder Armour carrying the Lightening Bolt Banner tore down the few remaining churches and monuments dedicated to this faith. When Dalmoth Kyn was defeated, and Hy Brasil integrated into Imperium during the final years of the Unification Wars, the Thunder Warriors tore down the last statue, a thirty-meter high structure built in the second millennium, dedicated to the Anointed One. After the destruction of the Anointed One’s last church in Franc, the God-Emperor ordered all evidence of this religion to be purged. Almost all material regarding the Anointed One on Terra was destroyed, few managed to preserve items and smuggled them to other worlds. However, the Great Crusade and the later enforcement of the Imperial Creed had made it very hard for sources regarding the Anointed One to survive. The religion no longer exists; its history can only be vaguely put together by remnants of often contradicting data.


May the God-Emperor’s Light bring Illumination where there is darkness.

Malcor Prios
Scriptor Historicus assigned to the Conclave Scedare

Cool idea but i reckon christianity died out during the dark age of technology. I intepret the emperor as filling a 'faith vacuum' during the great crusade and unification of terra. Mankind was too busy either being pleasured by robots in the DAoT or being killed by them in the AoS for worship. I like 'Ysrl' ; you obviously know your hebrew....

Cool idea but i reckon christianity died out during the dark age of technology.

I guess this is something we disagree on. Why would it die out? Because technology advanced? Look at the era after the Enlightenment in Europe, technology advanced as well, heck...we're even in space now, but still Christianity exists. I think that in the far future it would of course evolve into something potentially very different, but I imagine that it would still exist here and there.

I intepret the emperor as filling a 'faith vacuum' during the great crusade and unification of terra.

The Emperor wasn't worshipped as a God during the Unification Wars, afterwards the Word Bearers started to deify the Emperor, but generally the Emperor sought to wipe out all religion.

Mankind was too busy either being pleasured by robots in the DAoT or being killed by them in the AoS for worship.

Did the wars against the Iron Men actually occur in the Age of Strife? Furthermore, was the conflict actually one between humans and machines? I always viewed it as a conflict between men who used AI and men who didn't rather than the man vs machine cliche. As for Christianity in that era, I think it could very well survive then, people look at religion for hope.

I should have forwarded my view in the last post instead of simply disagreeing, i apologise. I would have thought the dstruction of all things christian or indeed non imperial cult would have happened AFTER the Horus Heresy. I suppose it comes down to one's intepretation of the emperor; Power hungry warmonger or something supremely benevolent? I think the later, and such a being would be tolerant of other religions and cultures. This was ultimately his downfall (whatever religion the warrior lodge of davin worshipped etc) hence the purges post heresy. (basically Emperor = good, Imperium = evil) Admittedly this like any theory is riddled with holes; Foremost: Alot of the actions of the crusading legions were downright EVIL.... Hmmm.

The last point was just a generalistion, i wasnt being specific fluffwise as lets face it, one cant.

As for the first point it's my personal opinion that the complacent, near hedonist, mankind of the DAoT would think themselves 'above' religious 'superstition' why would they want to learn about abstinence, discipline and charity when they lived in what i assumed was a 'perfect' anarchist society ( 'Post-scarcity' basically Ian M Banks' 'culture'). In case you cant guess i may harbour some uncool christian beliefs..

I should have forwarded my view in the last post instead of simply disagreeing, i apologise.

No need for apologizes, you didn't do anything wrong here.

I would have thought the dstruction of all things christian or indeed non imperial cult would have happened AFTER the Horus Heresy. I suppose it comes down to one's intepretation of the emperor; Power hungry warmonger or something supremely benevolent? I think the later, and such a being would be tolerant of other religions and cultures.

But the Emperor was set out to destroy all religions during the Great Crusade. Not because they were "not his", but because his original plan was very atheist, even though the novels use the word "secular", but the Imperium never was secular, in the early days it was atheist and after the Heresy it turned into a theocracy.

As for the first point it's my personal opinion that the complacent, near hedonist, mankind of the DAoT would think themselves 'above' religious 'superstition' why would they want to learn about abstinence, discipline and charity when they lived in what i assumed was a 'perfect' anarchist society ( 'Post-scarcity' basically Ian M Banks' 'culture'). In case you cant guess i may harbour some uncool christian beliefs..

But note that religions can change, look at how decadent our current Western culture is, we have all the technology we want, all the money, etc etc etc. And still many remain very Christian. Furthermore, I can imagine that the religion might have changed radically over the many many centuries, maybe abstinence, discipline and charity aren't that important in Christianity anymore around that time.