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I've always wondered slightly, while the rest of the Imperium see the Emperor as a deity and as their God and Saviour, what do the Space Marines think of him? The HH series document that the Cult of the Emperor developed alongside the Great Crusade, to all intents and purposes, but always apart from the Astartes Legions, (except for the Word Bearers obviously). The Ecclesiarchy was formed after the Codex Astares was written and we know that the Space Marines have their own way of worship, but do they see him as a God? Do they see him as a father figure who is their liege? Do they see him as some kind of guardian spirit to whom they owe everything? It goes without saying that Traitor Astartes are not included in my queries, but what do the Chaplains actually teach Space Marine recruits about their Emperor. We know it varies, and we know that the Sisters of Battle have gone in to destroy 'heretic' Chapters before..... any ideas?

The way I like to see it is thus.

The difference between Human to Astartes is the same as Astartes to Primarch is the same as Primarch to Emperor.

He is a whole different level, even to the gene-engineered death mongers the Astartes are. He was the fulfilment of human potential, with the exception of loving one of his sons a wee bit much and ignoring the changes that happened. Oh and ignoring other sons and stuff like that. Actually lets say he was the pinnacle of human potential, except as a father. That works.

They know he isn't a god (god like the Chaos gods) but still see him as a being worthy of praise and emulation.

It varies...
Some chapters see him as a patriarchal father figure, others see him as the overlord of the Imperium, some see him as a great man, and others see him as a god.
This also varies in intensity just like normal people as some chapters are mor casual about their beliefs whereas others are zealots (Black Templars for instance)

I agree with purplefood on this one, it varies from chapyer to chapter. Like for example the Space Wolves view him as the Allfather, and the Blood Ravens the Great-Father, these chapters view him as patriarch. It just depends.

It is prety much covered in the C:SM and index astartes articles, space marines see the Emperor as their creator/granddad (seeing as they see their primarch as their father as it were) and they see him as the greatest pinicle of humanity.

On the whole they still see him as a human, not a god, just the greatest as human can be in all aspects.

Most see him as the most powerful human, but still a human. They look up to him and respect him but don't worship him. Over the 10000 years since the heresy the SM have some of the best records. This combined with the fact the ecclesiarchy have very little control over them means they still know the emperor wasn't human and that he didn't want to be worshiped.

The way they actualy see him depends on their culture. As new recruits join they bring the culture with them so it gets merged.

This is the case for most SM , there are chapters who see him as a god but they are rare.

Like the previous posts mentioned depends from chapter to chapter, but i think that all chapters at least to some degree realise that not only is he the pinnacle of human potential but that he's now also transcended the mortal realm and is if not a god at least a supernatural being or even a force of nature like death. Hence why the invoke the name of the emperor to steel and fortify themselves, although I imagine some chapters (chapters that were second founding or later) are more likely to view him as an actual god as they have less chapter history, for example a chapter that crusaded with him during the great crusade would be more likely to see him as a superhuman as opposed to a god then a chapter which was just created a millenia ago by the decree of terra to combat a particular threat.

purplefood wrote:It varies...
Some chapters see him as a patriarchal father figure, others see him as the overlord of the Imperium, some see him as a great man, and others see him as a god.
This also varies in intensity just like normal people as some chapters are mor casual about their beliefs whereas others are zealots (Black Templars for instance)

Well put and seconded. Or I suppose "thirded" since Crimsonfist832 agreed as well.