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Hello fellow dakkanauts!

Here's an interesting question for a debate: If you had the chance to incarnate the Emperor during one important time of the History of Mankind, what would you do?

Would you ally with the AdMech, or would you instead invade them and take over their industry for the Great Crusade?

Would you keep religion legal?

Would you ever leave the frontlines of the Great Crusade?

Would you share your uber secret project (a.k.a the invasion of the webway via the Golden Throne) with the primarchs?

Would you leave Horus in charge of the Great Crusade?

When Horus lowered the shields of the Vengeful Spirit, would you teleport on board or would you continue directing the fight for the Imperial Palace and wait for the remaining loyalist reinforcements?

ETC, ETC...

Discuss!

I think the Emperor had the right idea, it was just his execution of most things that could be called in to question.

I guess the one that he really did balls up on was not telling the Primarchs about the webway project. If he had revealed that to just Horus, at the least, then the Heresy might have taken a different path. If he had told only Horus, that would have made the moany git feel a bit more special, despite of the fact the he was daddies favorite any way and Warmaster above his brothers.

The teleporting thing was a bit desperate but it was necessary I think. Who know's how long they would've waited for the reinforcements to arrive, I know they weren't that far away but maybe waiting would have meant that there wouldn't be much of a Terra left.

Maybe he was wrong to even go on the Great Crusade. Being this awesome shiny being that made everyone feel all gushy inside is someone that everyone is going to miss.

He gave the AdMech the Ultimatum of join me or I release the Space Marines and after they crushed the small uprising they thought it was better to shake hands rather than get whupped.

If I had the fluff knowledge I have IRL I wouldn't have held back against Horus at least. That way, even if the Imperium had to live through the Heresy, the Emperor would still be around to fix the human webway-project.

Well...

1: Don't steal Angron. Instead teleport down there and help him win the fight.

2: Let Horus know about the Webway Project.

3: Let Magnus use magic.

4: Still ban religion, need to kill the Chaos gods.

5: Attach a Space Marine legion to watch the Word Bearers. Make Word Bearers change their name to something not as... preachy. Maybe just lobotomize all the Word Bearers and rename them something horrific.

Campbell1004 wrote:

1: Don't steal Angron. Instead teleport down there and help him win the fight.

Good one, I agree

Campbell1004 wrote:5: Attach a Space Marine legion to watch the Word Bearers. Make Word Bearers change their name to something not as... preachy. Maybe just lobotomize all the Word Bearers and rename them something horrific.

Actually, why even bother with the Lorgar? Just make 19 Primarchs and forget about Godboy and his religious halfwits.

I'd try and persuade the High Lords to pass that euthanization law.

I would keep religion legal, and the reason is to make sure people like Lorgar don't turn to chaos. The roman empire was so successful because they didn't interfere with people's beliefs or culture.

I definetely agree with campbell about the emperor going down to help angron out personally since i think that would've developed a father-son bond between them, making it less likely that the world eaters would rebell against the imperium or even turn into sociopathic psychopaths after angron took over.

Would've been nice if the emperor kept tabs on the space wolves when the attacked the thousand sons instead of arresting magnus like he originally told leman russ to do, he could've sent a astropathic message to stop the attack and maybe even maintain the thousand sons as a loyalist faction.

Would've turned the custodes into another legion, sure having legions loyal to both the emperor and maybe even more loyal to their primarchs are fine but having your own guys who are more advanced than space marines and who are 100% fool proof loyal to you and only you wouldn't hurt just incase someone screws up your imperium

Would've asked lorgar what his plan was and set his mind straight that you are not someone to be worshipped before sending him off to advertise you as a god to planets he conquered. Proper mind set is important before starting on an important job like the great crusade

In the final battle, wouldn't have hesitated in fighting horus. Like the tau saying...it's for the greater good

I'd do everything exactly the way he did it, except I wouldn't hesitate when I had Horus down.

Retconn myself...

Thanks for the feedback guys, those were some were some pretty interesting points!

I actually never thought about Angron, but yeah, I totally agree that kidnapping him and letting him watch his brothers-in-arms die was the worst thing to do. It was not only stupid (since Big E could have easily avoided it, just by teleporting down there with Angron and a few of his Custodes bodyguards) but it was also cruel.

One of the things I would change concerning the Emperor's policies is his relation with the AdMech. Back then, at the end of the Unification Wars, the Emperor had the power to smash Mars under his heel. He had the might and the armies to literally crush any resistance the Martian techpriests could offer, and those tech priests knew it (read Mechanicum if you disagree).
But he chose to make a deal with them. He said: either you ally with me and give me what I need for the Crusade, or I'm gonna take it from you by force.
The Techpriests, far from being stupid, signed the treaty of Olympus, which basically stated that mars and Terra were now allies (in reality, Mars rather swore fealty to Terra), the AdMech was to supply the Great Crusade with weapons, tech and their own armed forces, while the emperor officially recognized the political independence of Mars and its colonies, along with their right to keep worshiping the Omnissiah.

And it is exactly this last point that bothers me, the goddamn Omnissiah. Not only does this stupid, nonsensical religion poses a serious threat to technological research and innovation with its blind and obscurantist dogma, but it is also in complete contradiction with the laws in the rest of the IoM! Why should the AdMech be allowed their own religion (which basically worshipped the emperor as a God), while the rest of the Imperium was forbidden any religious belief (especially the worship of the Emperor as a God?).
How do you expect people like Lorgar to stop worshipping you if you sign such stupid treaties?

I would take control over Mankind during the beginning of the Golden Age of Humanity.
I have tech, planets, recourses - the only thing I need would be Space Marines and Mankind would be mine ( they were at least major atheist back them ).

Maybe ya'know show my kids some love instead of treating them as child soldiers.

I assume this is pre heresy sine he doesn't do much now but sit, eat, poop, sleep.

1. Keep religion legal but make it clear that secularism is the most "sensible" course. Continue dismantling "destructive" chaos religions.

2. Tell the primarchs about the danger of chaos and that the ultimate goal of the crusade is to try to as much as possible remove its influence.

3. Wait until the bitter end of the crusade before starting the webway project. Make it clear to the primarchs the intention and importance of the project.

4. Help Angron win his fight.

5. Allow the legions to use librarians but under strict guidelines.

6. Slowly try to move the superstition about technology away from the ad-mech, to allow technological advancement and progress. AI is allowed but only under very strict rules.

7. Set up the inquisition early on to further aid the eradication of chaos.

Mr Nobody wrote:I would keep religion legal, and the reason is to make sure people like Lorgar don't turn to chaos. The roman empire was so successful because they didn't interfere with people's beliefs or culture.

It also played a part in the downfall of the Empire.

Constantine???
Constantanople???

The Monk wrote:

Mr Nobody wrote:I would keep religion legal, and the reason is to make sure people like Lorgar don't turn to chaos. The roman empire was so successful because they didn't interfere with people's beliefs or culture.

It also played a part in the downfall of the Empire.

Constantine???
Constantanople???

True enough. Religion is actually a tricky problem.

I think that the Emperor was wrong to completely prohibit religion, and literally make religious dogma illegal, especially in the W40K universe. Saying that religion is crap just because it brings people towards obscurantism and violence with people of other beliefs is a bit too easy.
Religion also brings people hope and moral support. Think of how many people on Earth are finding comfort in the knowledge that someone (or something) up there is watching over them and that there is hope for a better life in the future (or after death). Now think about all the horrors and the monstrosities hiding among the stars in the galaxy: the orks, the DE, the warp, and all the other xenos empires, etc. I think the people of the IoM need faith to give them strength and courage to fight the horrors of the galaxy. Look at what happened on Davin when Horus was mortally wounded: His entire expedition fleet fell into despair and anarchy until the cult of the Emperor arose and united them in faith and prayers.

It is true that religion can bring towards blind acts of violence and obscurantism, but it can also bring hope and comfort to the masses, and I think that the Emperor misunderstood that.