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This is a crazy arse theory I thought up.


Its said that when the Warmaster fought the God Emperor, he was able to summon on the power of the Gods themselves. If an ancient account of the melee is to be believed, he slit his Father's throat and lit his face ablaze, searing his flesh til it dribbled from his blackening skull. He shattered the God Emperor's breastplate and the ribcage beneath it with a single blow, then broke the God Emperor's spine over his knee. All the while, lightning arced from the Warmaster's clawed hands, and through red eyes he drank in his Father's suffering. It was only through summoning all of his strength that the God Emperor was able to lay his son low, and at a terrible cost.

His broken body was preserved on the Golden Throne, so that he might guide the Astronomicon for all eternity.

Perhaps, by the time he was locked in, he was already dead.

---The God Emperor and the Golden Throne---

The only seat fit for the God Emperor, the Golden Throne is a relic from an age where technology was at its peak and artificers were able to perform the impossible.

To reach it, one must first ascend the steps to the Eternity Gate, passing by thousands of the Imperium's banners. These depict the iconography, sigils, and triumphs of the Imperium, and were wielded by its greatest heroes. The triumph banner of the Lord Solar Macharius is at the forefront, alongside the faded banner of Guilliman. The Eternity Gate itself is forged of tempered adamantium and emblazoned with gold, carved to represent the God Emperor's triumph over the Void Dragon. This gate is large enough to tower over the mightiest of Titans

The Golden Throne itself burns with a brilliant intensity, forcing lesser men to cast their gaze far away from its majesty. The God Emperor uses it as a psychic conduit to guide the Astronomicon, the psychic light that makes all faster-than-light travel possible. Without the Astronomicon, the Imperium simply wouldn't exist.

During the Great Crusade, the God Emperor left Terra to wage his war, not returning until after the Triumph of Ullanor, which was believed to be at least thirty eight years in. During these thirty eight years, how did the Astronomicon stay lit, if it truly relies on the God Emperor?

Some have posited that it was Malcador the Sigillite who lit the Astronomicon. The Sigillite was an incredibly powerful psyker and a brilliant mind. This theory is disproven when one looks at the Siege of Terra, where Malcador attempted to guide the Astronomicon. It was said that as he sat he withered, and within minutes there was naught but ashes upon the Golden Throne. If he could scarcely do it for several minutes, how could he guide it for thirty eight years?

Someone must have lit it, otherwise the faster-than-light travel that the God Emperor used to leave Terra wouldn't have been possible.

The answer can be found in the aftermath of the Siege. When the God Emperor had been wounded, the sacrifice of hundreds of psykers with each passing day was necessary to keep it lit. The God Emperor had never required sacrifices before.

Herein lays a horrible truth. If I am correct, sacrifices were used to light the Golden Throne for thirty eight years during the God Emperor's long absence. Malcador only attempted to guide it during the Siege of Terra because the traitors had breached the Imperial Palace, and the normal sacrifices were disrupted. Perhaps he allowed himself to be sacrificed in their place, hoping that his exceptionally powerful soul was the match of a dozen regular psykers (if the term regular can even be applied to psykers). Alternatively, it is possible that he truly believed he could light it, and was consumed before his mistake was fully realized. The Sigillite was a shrewd man; as such, I believe he knew what would happen.

When the God Emperor was put back on the Golden Throne, nothing changed. The sacrifices continued as usual. All that he required to guide the Astronomicon was his conscious, but, as it still needed psykers, he evidently lacked it.

---The Mechanicum---

It was the Adeptus Mechanicus, known as the Mechanicum before they were conquered, that performed maintenance on the Golden Throne, and put the God Emperor upon it in the dark days following the Siege. They were the ones who declared that the God Emperor still drew breathe, and that they had successfully saved him. Since then, they have closely kept the secrets of the Golden Throne's inner workings.

Why would they lie? Why would they insist that the God Emperor was still alive? He would've had no pulse, shown no signs of brain activity, and would've been beginning to rot. They clearly knew all this, as they carefully preserved him and continued to sacrifice psykers. My first theory was that they did it to keep the Imperium alive. The news of the God Emperor's death would have been crushing, and it is possible that entire worlds would've risen in revolt upon hearing it. I quickly disregarded this. In the Imperium, poverty and crime are rampant, and men can find themselves executed simply for being accused of heretical thought. The commons have no love for the Imperium, though few would admit it. It is not the image of the God Emperor, a magnificent golden giant, that keeps them loyal. It is Arbites and Guardsmen, who will gladly cut down any rioters.

The answer traces back to politics. The Adeptus Mechanicus is not loyal to the Imperium. Like the commons, it is only kept in line through the threat of force. The God Emperor commanded it, and the God Emperor slew those tech adepts who disobeyed. If the God Emperor was dead, he would be replaced. Though the Lion (Primarch of the 1st Legion and Lord of the Dark Angels) was the true heir, it is also possible that Roboute Guilliman (Primarch of the 13th Legion and Lord of the Ultramarines) could have taken the throne with his political connections. Either way, this was ill news for the Adeptus Mechanicus. The God Emperor was the only man in the Imperium who commanded the Mechanicum; the rest were all members of seperate command hierarchies, also beneath the God Emperor. If the Mechanicum declared that the original God Emperor were still alive, he couldn't be replaced. Thus, they would have won their sovereignty with a single stroke.

This did not go as planned. Roboute Guilliman was not a man to be easily cowed. He created the Codex Astartes to break up his brother's Legions and ensure that they wouldn't rival him for control of the Imperium (it is known that both the Lion and Rogal Dorn sought their Father's power). From there, he declared himself Lord Commander of the Imperium. He waged war on the Traitor Legions, slaying his brother Alpharius at Eskrador and breaking the Night Lords at Tsagualsa. Ultimately, Roboute Guilliman was slain by his brother Fulgrim in a battle against the Emperor's Children.

Taken at face value, there is little suspicious about this. Death is always a risk in war, even for the God Emperor's children. Yet, if one probes further, it becomes disturbing. How did Roboute Guilliman find himself alone on the front lines against a Daemon Prince? He was not a man fond of leading charges, and he preferred to wage war from the bridge of his Adsidus, watching hololiths and carefully monitoring the progress of the battle. Furthermore, the Ultramarines won the conflict, which makes his death even more unusual.

Tech priests monitored the doings of every vessel in his fleet. They commanded Titans. Techmarines in his own Chapters programmed servitors and performed maintenance. They had a great deal of sway in Roboute's forces, more than Roboute knew. It is possible that they answered to the Mechanicum first, and not Roboute. If this is true, that it would be well within the power of Fabricator-General Kane, the head of the Adeptus Mechanicus, to pull out Roboute's own army from beneath him and leave him stranded in the face of an oncoming enemy charge. This is greatly disturbing.

But if this is all true, why hasn't the Adeptus Mechanicus succeeded?

Following Roboute's death, Fabricator-General Kane was offered a seat on the High Lords of Terra by the Master of the Administratum.

The Master of the Administratum wisely chose to buy Kane's loyalty. In the end, Kane chose personal wealth and prestige over the Mechanicus's cause. It was a compromise that pained the Imperium. Many politicians were wrath at having to deal with the the Mechanicus as equals.

I would not be surprised if these politicians met fates similar to Reboute's.

---Loose Ends---

Of the Companions, the 300 members of the Adeptus Custodes that personally guard the God Emperor, not one has ever spoken out. None have run into the streets, screaming that the God Emperor is dead and the Imperium was built on a lie by overly ambitious politicians. Perhaps this is because, if it is revealed that is he dead, they would no longer serve any purpose. The Adeptus Custodes would be known as the disgraced failures who couldn't guard the God Emperor, and would be cast aside. They might very well be executed as traitors and heretics.

Meanwhile, the Tech Priests that perform maintenance on the Astronomicon have been carefully indoctrinated. They are only told to repeat maintenance rituals without understanding or questioning them. Those Tech Priests who know what they're doing are high enough in the command hierarchy to be loyal to the Mechanicum above all else.

HERETIC!!

Him being alive or dead really makes no difference.

His body is definitely dead, yet his spirit remains within it. So he is sort of alive and dead at the same time.


The Emperor still exists in spirit form, guiding the Astronomican, as well as keeping daemonic incursions at bay. Even communicating with select followers at times.

He is dead, but only in the physical sense.


They say he is alive, and they are correct. He still exists. Of course he lacks a physical body, a body that died long ago, but his soul still exists. And that is all that matters.

So the EoM died at Horus' hands... the whole thing about His consciousness surviving b/c of the Golden Throne is a conspiracy... and all of this was precipitated by a mass conspiracy of various elements within the IoM?

Cool story. Not likely, but interesting reading.

Prepare to be purged.

It doesn't matter that his body is dead, which it is. Its that the Golden Throne keeps his spirit anchored to this reality so he can continue to influence it. (and possibly waging a war against chaos in the spirit realm.)
Yeah, he's dead, but its moot because his spirit isn't. Like Souron from Lord of the Rings.

Now an alternate reality/whatever where even his spirit is gone? That would just suck for the IOM because then they have nothing helping them. But the SOB fluff proves that something is still watching over them.

Great, well thought out and written post.

One thing to keep in mind, in the days preceding the Heresy, Magnus used the short section of human-built webway to enter the Imperial Vaults at the base of the Golden Throne. As the webway is designed to ward away invasive warp entities, and Magnus was only able to breach these protective spells with the direct assistance of no less then Tzeentch himself, his passing through to Terra burned out much of the arcane workings of the Golden Throne. This could account for how the Astronomicon continued to signal throughout the Great Crusade. The Emperor never needed to use sacrifices to fuel the spirit beacon before since he'd never had a broken Throne before.

All that aside, of course the Emperor is dead. His frail mortal coil is now the plaything of rot and putrefaction. Entropy has won. Nurgle is ascendant. All hail the Grandfather!

I quoted this text once before, it's from the Inquisitor rulebook, so I'm not surprised that not many people know about it.

 LoneLictor wrote:
He shattered the God Emperor's breastplate and the ribcage beneath it with a single blow, then broke the God Emperor's spine over his knee.

 Grey Templar wrote:
They say he is alive, and they are correct. He still exists. Of course he lacks a physical body, a body that died long ago, but his soul still exists. And that is all that matters.

So the Emperor is really Batman and Obi-Wan.

A fine theory LL, a interesting read indeed

I think the OP is insinuating that even the Emperor's psychic presense is dead? Well, Apoc's latest divine charts specifically say it's the Emperor himself that's powering up his followers when the miracle happens. So he is still consciously psychically active, it appears. Granted, you don't have to take that sheet at its word, I suppose.

It should be noted that Astropaths are soulbound to the Emperor, too. Also, the founder of the Sisters of Battle was granted audience with him on the throne as well. Although the latter could just be legend (as is Rogal Dom receiving Emp's orders on how to keep the Imperium going after Dom carried Emp's broken body to the throne).

Dude that is one of the coolest consperiacy/ ideas i have ever read on Dakka Dakka ...........My Guardsmen fight for a LIE !!! , no but on a serious note this does seem likely , i would agree that his mind is no longer in his phyisical body but i do think he might be a spirtiual entitiy very similar to an Angel if that makes any sense to you guys , But OP i do think you make some supremely Excellant Points

 Kasrkin229 wrote:
i would agree that his mind is no longer in his phyisical body but i do think he might be a spirtiual entitiy very similar to an Angel if that makes any sense to you guys

Sitting next to his body wondering if he should return to his crippled body or stay as an "ascended" being ... tough choice!

If you remember, the Cabal, if I remember right, considered him to be the most useful "human" to be entered into their inner circle. I'm talking about the group that controls Jon Grammaticus and such.
It's also said that The Emperor is actually a group of beings (9 shamans I think?) that combined their souls to make one being of supreme power to thwart Chaos and the infernal gods of the warp.

*blam*

GW will never clear this up, unless flagging sales force them to release a new plot where he comes back etc. And likely they'll do a lame duck instead given that situation, and die anyway. Oh well.

Nobody_Holme wrote:
*blam*

GW will never clear this up, unless flagging sales force them to release a new plot where he comes back etc. And likely they'll do a lame duck instead given that situation, and die anyway. Oh well.

I suppose that's possible, but if sales were in the toilet, GW would more likely bring back a loyalist primarch or 2 before reviving the Emperor.

BOREALUM!

Someone is soul binding the psykers. So The Emperor can't be dead.

Unless you're implying that something else does it. Like its an automated feature of the Golden Throne.

I like the old theory from a few years back. Horus being a master of deception managed to switch places with the Emperor whom he mortally injured in the big fight. He too was horribly injured and thus confined to the throne as a vegetable pretty much. Thus why all the chaos legions like to yell Death to the False Emperor! because they actually know the truth.

 OminusMarine wrote:
If you remember, the Cabal, if I remember right, considered him to be the most useful "human" to be entered into their inner circle. I'm talking about the group that controls Jon Grammaticus and such.
It's also said that The Emperor is actually a group of beings (9 shamans I think?) that combined their souls to make one being of supreme power to thwart Chaos and the infernal gods of the warp.

Try thousands.

The Emperor is made of thousands of shamans. Who were the psykers of humanity, who were reincarnated each time they died. But daemons began appearing and so they all committed suicide at the same time and hopped in the same body. Thus making themselves immortal and preserving themselves.

 dementedwombat wrote:
I quoted this text once before, it's from the Inquisitor rulebook, so I'm not surprised that not many people know about it.

Spoiler:

A single candle guttered on an ornate silver
stick in the centre of the room, throwing a
yellowish, fitful light over the faces of the
cowled figures stood in the dusty chamber.
“The Golden Throne works,” one said, his
voice aged and cracked. “The Emperor’s life
can be sustained indefinitely.”
“His soul lives on?” another inquired, his
long, sharp nose protruding from under the
lip of his hood. “It is not an empty husk?”
“It is not,” the first confirmed. “The
Emperor has ascended to the next plane,
but the link ’twixt body and spirit remains
strong.”
“Then it can be brought back,” suggested
the third, a young woman whose flowing
white hair spilled from her hood and down
to her waist. “The Emperor need not suffer
this hideous eternal life in death.”
“We cannot risk such a thing!” the first
hissed. “What if the spiritual link were
severed? What if the person brought back
was not the man we once knew? Changed?
News of the Emperor’s… ascension is
already widespread. He is being revered as
a god already on a hundred worlds. In this
time of rebuilding, we need a symbol. The
Emperor has shown us the way. Anyway,
who would believe the Emperor had
returned so soon? It will cause a civil war
more devastating than that of the fool
Horus, and even now we have yet to start
counting the cost of that. No, better that
this knowledge remains hidden. When we
pass on to join the Emperor, it will die with
us.”
“You cannot deny Mankind the Emperor,” a
fourth voice, deep and slow, stated firmly.
“He and the empire he has built are
Mankind’s only chance of survival.”
The woman and the deep-voiced man both
withdrew into the shadows and a moment
later the door creaked open, a chill draught
causing the candle flame to flit wildly.
“Moriana, Promeus, wait!” the first man
called out, but the door slammed shut in
answer.
“We cannot let them do this,” the hawk
nosed man decided.
“No, we cannot,” the first agreed. “We must
act quickly, get organised and claim the
initiative.”
“It shall be done,” the other concurred.

Yeah, lot's of neat things in that book. The Emperor is clearly still alive.

BTW: I like your Avatar Lonelictor. I have a few Wayne Douglas Barlow books myself.

 Traejun wrote:

Nobody_Holme wrote:
*blam*

GW will never clear this up, unless flagging sales force them to release a new plot where he comes back etc. And likely they'll do a lame duck instead given that situation, and die anyway. Oh well.

I suppose that's possible, but if sales were in the toilet, GW would more likely bring back a loyalist primarch or 2 before reviving the Emperor.

I was just thinking about this actually (If GW were to tank), and I thought of a big massive end-all campaign where Chaos finally makes it to Terra, the daemon primarchs come and the loyalist primarch who disappeared come roaring back for the final battle. Would be interesting.

 MWHistorian wrote:
It doesn't matter that his body is dead, which it is. Its that the Golden Throne keeps his spirit anchored to this reality so he can continue to influence it. (and possibly waging a war against chaos in the spirit realm.)
Yeah, he's dead, but its moot because his spirit isn't. Like Souron from Lord of the Rings.

You shouldn't believe everything the Confessors tell you.