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So I was reading this article:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Technology#.Upf7ueJMrXo

and ask myself why the Emperor didnt launch his Great Crusade at this time already?

Sources say he was alive since b.c. times in Anatolia, so by 15k Mankind was effectively colonizing planets without him akin to a mini Great Crusade without the Emperor, thats interesting, isnt it?

Maybe he didn't have the necessary knowledge or technology to create the gene-enhanced army that helped him unify terra yet. Maybe he didn't think Mankind was ready yet? Maybe he foresaw the warp storms that would erupt and seclude Terra and many other colonies from one another? I wouldn't want to be the one in charge during that time, in that link I quote "[Terrans] were suddenly unable to feed their enormous populations. Hunger and starvation followed."

it's likely he was there just not obviously there. the great crusade marked a switch in tactics for the Emperor whom prior to then had always worked behind the scenes

Too busy playing skee-ball.

Definitely skee-ball.

He may have been on Mars, right? ... After all he did put the C'tan over there. Maybe it was easier to ride it out over there or on his newly discovered throne in the Himalayas.

DAoT was a time when the Emperor wouldn't have thought he would have needed to re-unite humanity, but the age of strife made it impossible to do after that golden age ended.

Who said he wasn't? We know nothing about the dark age of technology. Whos to say that humanity wasnt being led by the emperor at that time? But then the chaos gods scuppered his plans and empire with warp storms. When they abated he saw it as his second chance to unite humanity in a utopian galaxy spanning empire and thus started the great crusade? We just dont know...

He was probably just biding his time. As I recall, the emergence of the Emperor (or the Great Crusade at least) coincided with the Fall of the Eldar, who until then had reigned supreme over the galaxy. The Emperor probably didn't want to draw their attention when they were at full strength. Their fall meant the time was right for the Emperor to reveal himself and take dominion over humanity.

I'm going with a combination of the last post and skee-ball.

And They Shall Know Endless Carnival Prizes..

My info mainly comes from this:
http://www.deepstrikeradio.com/?p=1317

If I am remembering correctly, he wanted to give humanity the chance to run things themselves without his direct guidance. He went as far as, he allowed every piece of human empire from the dark age of technology to wither away completely before he stepped in. He wanted to rebuild his new empire from scratch.

Fun note: I love the reason explained why the Big-E does not like Xenos of any sort.

Was the war with the Iron Men before, during or after the DAoT?

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Men_of_Iron

First off, the time line of 40k is a mess, it's hard to pinpoint when things start and end, especially when it concerns other timelines like the Eldar.

But, from what I can gather; the wars with the iron men caused the end of the Dark Age of Technology, and the beginning of the Age of Strife; it possibly was the first major influence from Chaos, causing the Terminator scenario.

I didn't know that the Men of Iron were corrupted / influenced by Chaos?

I thought it was just a case of the A.I. reaching a certain level and deciding Humanity wasn't worth serving anymore...

Well first off realize that in the 80's when GW created the 40k universe they stole huge amounts of stuff from Dune including the suspicion against thinking machines (A.I.). Like Dune, there was a war in the past in which the machines rose up against humanity but were eventually defeated. For practical purposes it is to explain why robots aren't just commonplace in the sotry setting.

Now for the topic, the Emperor is always stated as having worked behind the scenes to passively guide humanity. It is is hinted he is all great figures in history from Alexander the Great to Jesus. The goal being to guide humanity to its psychic potential on essentially its own accord.

The Dark Age of Tech happens and the machines gak everything up. Then the Age of Strife occurs where warpstroms blanket the galaxy due to the birth of Slaanesh. The Big E couldn't do anything realistically until the warpstorms cleared up.

By the time of the great crusade's start, and the unification of earth, the Big E had basically given on staying behind the scenes and decided it was time to take an active role leading to the story we know today.

Actually, no. According to the Eldar codex the birth of Slaanesh by the close of M29 calmed the Warp Storms and allowed the Age of the Imperium to begin. The Warp Storms had started with the beginning of the Age of Strike about M22ish when the psychic throes of the ever increasing depravity of the Eldar Empire caused more and more turbulences in the Warp.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
Too busy playing skee-ball.

With Malcador the Sigilite of course.

 buddha wrote:
Now for the topic, the Emperor is always stated as having worked behind the scenes to passively guide humanity. It is is hinted he is all great figures in history from Alexander the Great to Jesus. The goal being to guide humanity to its psychic potential on essentially its own accord.

He definitely wasn't Jesus.

Then again there's always the possibility left open in the fluff no one talks about; he's not that old, merely another of his lies.

 Lord Spartacus wrote:


He definitely wasn't Jesus.

Spoiler:

If you read The Last Church you would know why.

His back-story is troubling even if you take it at face value.
"Hey, all these people were me just playing pretend. I was telling you lies to try to serve my own end but it didn't work out. Therefore I started telling people ONE BIG lie to further my ends. But you can TOTALLY believe what I'm telling you now bra!"

...aaand that's why I play Chaos.

Didn't it say the emperor was able to predict the coming Age of Strife?

Because, in that case it's kinda funny he didn't think of maybe storing away a few STCs or such

Imagine it like this.

It's humanities greatest time of technology and everyone is living a happy life in light and stuff.

then........

bam!!!!!!

The Emperor comes and starts introducing skulls, Imperial systems, Goth architecture and a whole lot of other creepy sh**

the people would have started to rebel right?

so......

he waited until mankind was hopeless and was willing to worship anyone who saved them and

bam!!!!!

he was free to introduce his skulls and creepy gothic stuff.