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I know the Emperor's physic shadow registers as the Astronomicon in the warp, but is that the extent of what he does there? I've read in numerous sources that he 'protects mankind from the worst horrors of the warp', but thats as much as I've been able to figure out. The Chaos Gods are described as being active, even if its just Khorne chilling on his throne yelling at things, so I'm wondering if the Emperor is fighting Greater Daemons in the warp or if he's simply a stationary being.

He sometimes influences the course of events in subtle ways, and guides people through the emperors tarot. But besides the astronomicon, the emperor is basically out of the picture. Like most of the other characters from the wh 30k era, he's passed beyond the realm of mortals.

I've always got the feeling that he keeps the immaterium somewhat more stable than it otherwise might be, to the benefit of the Imperium. Had his webway project been completed, this might not have been necessary. However, a secondary benefit of his enormous warp shadow is that the eyes of the Emprah are upon you, any wrong you do he's gonna see. When in the Imperium look behind you. 'Cause thats, where the Emprah's, gonna be.

He has a role of safeguarding Human souls from Chaos Gods and occasionally give some amount of his powers to his servants to help them ( Act's of Faith ), there is even a saying that he caused at least one Warp Storm.

He works in mysterious ways. That's not meant to be a joke. His role is rather mysterious with lots of things being attributed to his doing with out real proof that he did it or didn't do it.

DrimGark wrote:I've always got the feeling that he keeps the immaterium somewhat more stable than it otherwise might be, to the benefit of the Imperium. Had his webway project been completed, this might not have been necessary. However, a secondary benefit of his enormous warp shadow is that the eyes of the Emprah are upon you, any wrong you do he's gonna see. When in the Imperium look behind you. 'Cause thats, where the Emprah's, gonna be.

So the Emperor is Santa?

To my understanding, the only 'official' fluff regarding the Emperor's role in the warp is pretty limited.

Depending on who's writing the background, he could be involved in anything from subtle manipulation of events(the right person in the right place at the right time) to outright miracles in the real-world.

Personally, I like the way canon only establishes a limited scope of the emperor's power, leaving the question of whether or not he is a true 'god' up to us(or the writer).

Red Comet wrote:

DrimGark wrote:I've always got the feeling that he keeps the immaterium somewhat more stable than it otherwise might be, to the benefit of the Imperium. Had his webway project been completed, this might not have been necessary. However, a secondary benefit of his enormous warp shadow is that the eyes of the Emprah are upon you, any wrong you do he's gonna see. When in the Imperium look behind you. 'Cause thats, where the Emprah's, gonna be.

So the Emperor is Santa?

You missed a walker texas ranger reference. The internet weeps.

The members of the Imperial Cult have their souls protected after death, although the Emperor never really wanted to be seen as a god.

The Emperor makes it harder for daemons to enter the materium and prey upon humans. Without him daemons would come flooding in and swallow every latent psyker.

Every human psyker that dies is absorbed into the Emperor's conciousness, at least if the daemons don't catch him first. What happens to normal humans is unknown, possably they get snatched by him too but we don't know.


He actually doesn't create the Astronomican, that is done by the sacrifice of human psykers. However he does focus it and make it visable and stronger.

After all of this, he does work to help mankind using his psychic abilities through the Tarot or through direct intervention.


And his physical body is what is actually holding him back somewhat. It keeps him tethered in the physical realm, preventing him from entering the warp completely where he could either be born into a new body OR go and kick some serious chaos booty. Either way, the Imperium would become much safer.

It is theorized that the Grey Knights have a kill switch for the Golden Throne so they can cause this to happen if all hell breaks loose.

Grey Templar wrote:

It is theorized that the Grey Knights have a kill switch for the Golden Throne so they can cause this to happen if all hell breaks loose.

That would be the Terminus Decree...the Emperor's final resort. I'm guessing that he deactivation of the Golden Throne will unleash enough psychic energy to blow back Chaos, temporarily at least, long enough for the Emperor to pull Himself back together.

He creates warp storm to smite those that would betray him.

The Emperor is plugging the whole in the Webway beneath the Golden Throne, preventing the foul Chaos Hordes from running amok on Terra.

Sometimes he helps wayward souls during their sojourn in the warp should they become lost.

In Slaves to Darkness, human souls would become part of the warp, hence the sea of souls. Not all are devoured by the Chaos Gods. Those that dedicated their lives to Chaos were fodder for their masters, not a nice way to go after a life of servitude.

There's also the Soul-Binding that astropaths go through. Basically the Emperor's soul is a big, safe, carrier wave they can use to transmit messages without being vulnerable to daemons and the like.

Doesn't it mention that the Emprah helps keep Deamons from materializing into realspace? Obviously he can't keep them all out, but thats what Grey Knights are for. Also, it could be said that he's waiting for his material body to die so he can be reborn as the star child. I'd like to think that he might team up with the Eldar god of death and tag team wrestle the choas gods NWO style.

Horus654 wrote:I know the Emperor's physic shadow registers as the Astronomicon in the warp, but is that the extent of what he does there?

This is a widely spread belief amongst fans but it is patently untrue.

The Astronomicon was running long before the Emperor's internment without his participation in any capacity. It still runs without him. It's a machine powered by psykers, certainly, but not the Emperor.

I remember one of HH books describing him as "anathema" to the warp. He could be acting as a warp deterrent now.

Mr Nobody wrote:I remember one of HH books describing him as "anathema" to the warp. He could be acting as a warp deterrent now.

the book is first heretic sir and he is anathema to the chaos gods not to the warp as a whole

First of, thanks for all the insightful answers so far, its great to be able to ask a question and get answers without being yelled at for not knowing from the start.

As a follow up question, if the Astronomicon can function without him, and he would be more powerful in the warp if he was allowed to die in the materium, why is he being kept in stasis?

Because the Star Child is a lie, or at best theoretical. You don't want to try something like it without being pretty certain it'll work.

As regards what he does in the Warp, he definitely
-makes the Astronomican better.
-stops millions of daemons assaulting Terra through the broken Webway section connected to the Golden Throne.

He might:
-save the souls of the faithful from the Chaos gods after death (proof is understandably hard to come by)
-cause miracles, like the saints and such.
-influence the Emperor's Tarot (though he didn't like it much back when he was alive if memory serves)
-make it difficult for daemons to force their way into real space (there's not really any comment on this by daemons that I know of, and they'd probably just lie anyway)

Horus654 wrote:
As a follow up question, if the Astronomicon can function without him, and he would be more powerful in the warp if he was allowed to die in the materium, why is he being kept in stasis?

No one is sure that's going to work.
The people that can kill him refuse to do it out of greed and/or reverence.

I imagine the Emperor as the only constant in the swirling currents of the Immaterium. He'd be like a landmark of sorts, the only still point in an ever changing landscape. Daemons would probably keep their distance, but they wouldn't be too scared of him. After all, he isn't much of a threat now.

Durza wrote:Because the Star Child is a lie, or at best theoretical. You don't want to try something like it without being pretty certain it'll work.

As regards what he does in the Warp, he definitely
-makes the Astronomican better.
-stops millions of daemons assaulting Terra through the broken Webway section connected to the Golden Throne.

He might:
-save the souls of the faithful from the Chaos gods after death (proof is understandably hard to come by)
-cause miracles, like the saints and such.
-influence the Emperor's Tarot (though he didn't like it much back when he was alive if memory serves)
-make it difficult for daemons to force their way into real space (there's not really any comment on this by daemons that I know of, and they'd probably just lie anyway)

The Emperor's Tarot didn't exist back then. It only came about after he ascended to the Golden Throne.



The Star Child is just one of the possabilities that happen on his death.


Basically, there are a 2 ways it could go.

1) Star Child. Emperor dies, reincarnates himself into a physical body, and we have Great Crusade v2.

2) Emperor dies, enters the warp, and either destroys the Chaos gods or simply becomes Chaos God #5. Either way, mankind survives with the aid of the Emperor.

You left out 3)

Emperor dies, (or has been dead for some time already , but lets assume he's still in there to avoid flame war ) and simply ceases to be. No new chaos god, no star child, just poof- he's gone.

Humanity then has to cope without him, and maybe might even progress again when he's gone, instead of regressing (assuming they survive long enough).

Ascalam wrote:You left out 3)

Emperor dies, (or has been dead for some time already , but lets assume he's still in there to avoid flame war ) and simply ceases to be. No new chaos god, no star child, just poof- he's gone.

Humanity then has to cope without him, and maybe might even progress again when he's gone, instead of regressing (assuming they survive long enough).

Don't forget 4) He dies and then warp storms destroy the universe.

I'm good with that one too

My Daemons would be thrilled

If he dies - wont the webway under the golden throne suck earth in ? Or at least fill earth with daemons ?

From memory in the HH books, the webway on earth was all good until magnus the red tried to get a warning to the emperor about horus betraying him.

But I thought that the webway was always seperate from the warp - thats why chaos was pissed at the eldar and partly pissed at the emperor. Because if they stopped travelling through the warp that was less chances for them to eat souls.

So was the emperors plan from the beginning always to die and become a god ? Why didnt he tell the primarchs this before the heresy ? Horus basically rebelled because he felt abandonded and betrayed by the emperor for not telling him this kinda stuff

Grey Templar wrote:
The Emperor's Tarot didn't exist back then. It only came about after he ascended to the Golden Throne.

Lorgar invented the Emperor's Tarot when he was still loyal, so that predates the internment.

DarknessEternal wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:
The Emperor's Tarot didn't exist back then. It only came about after he ascended to the Golden Throne.

Lorgar invented the Emperor's Tarot when he was still loyal, so that predates the internment.

Ironic...if pre-Heresy Lorgar could see that, he'd be so proud, and then shocked because it only happened because he betrayed his 'god'.

I would assume he stops demons from being summoned around terra...otherwise they would have just summoned there and finished him off. Instead, they have to get their using conventional means, which is pretty tricky. They can't even take Cadia...

Joey wrote:I would assume he stops demons from being summoned around terra...otherwise they would have just summoned there and finished him off. Instead, they have to get their using conventional means, which is pretty tricky. They can't even take Cadia...[/quote
They almost did, last time I looked...