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I've been thinking about this an awful lot lately and it reminds me of the theological discussions I used to engage in quite a bit. Just bout all souls that enter the warp will more than likely fall prey to various chaos entities or the gods themselves. It seems to me the more i've read that chaos is the only viable option for a human who doesn't want to suffer that fate and even that is a slim chance afterall you'd have to be useful or amusing to the chaos gods enough to warrant becoming a daemon or something.

So the question is then, can you worship the emperor and find safety in his presence and your faith in him after death? As of yet i've not seen a whole lot of evidence to suggest the Emperor is actually a god or that he runs some sort of afterlife. What evidence is there in the lore including the various army books or black library material to support the idea that worshiping the emperor can actually save your soul from being a tasty treat? I know We have things like legion of the damned and living saints but i'm not sure that says much of anything about him saving the average imperial citizen or even that he really has anything to do with it.

The Emperor has a huge presence in the warp. I don't remember exactly how it was worded but lorgar said something along the lines of if he isn't a god, he's as close as. I don't think it would be unreasonable for him to have a section of the warp near the astronomican carved out where all the good imperial servants in life go in death. Plus, as you said the LoftD are literally now the emperors daemons of order, same as plaguebearers for nurgle. You have to remember the warp is a reflection of what the various mortal races feel and believe and do. If enough people think the emperor is a god that will save them, it may well end up being the case.

Eldar craftworlders wear stones that capture their souls when they die, instead of being eaten by Slaanesh.
But if they become harlequins, they don't need these stones anymore, and their souls go to Cegorach upon their death. Not much is known about the process of becoming a harlequin, but it seems that, for Eldars at least, changing your beliefs can change your soul's end destination. And Cegorach isn't a warp god in the same way the big 4 are.
It doesn't answer your question, but it seems like there's a somewhat similar situation in the universe.

Believe in the Emperor and He will absorb your soul when you die. This isn't an "afterlife" but it's definitely preferential (although arguably little different) to being eaten by daemons.

Captyn_Bob wrote:
Believe in the Emperor and He will absorb your soul when you die. This isn't an "afterlife" but it's definitely preferential (although arguably little different) to being eaten by daemons.

This. It is basically a choice between which warp entity you prefer to eat your soul.

 Crimson wrote:

Captyn_Bob wrote:
Believe in the Emperor and He will absorb your soul when you die. This isn't an "afterlife" but it's definitely preferential (although arguably little different) to being eaten by daemons.

This. It is basically a choice between which warp entity you prefer to eat your soul.

You could always try and pinch a soul stone.

pm713 wrote:

 Crimson wrote:

Captyn_Bob wrote:
Believe in the Emperor and He will absorb your soul when you die. This isn't an "afterlife" but it's definitely preferential (although arguably little different) to being eaten by daemons.

This. It is basically a choice between which warp entity you prefer to eat your soul.

You could always try and pinch a soul stone.

Which isn't much better? Being locked inside a stone for all eternity doesn't exactly sound like fun.

The reason Eldars need to use spirit stone is because they are a psyker race and they have very "strong" souls. This mean that when they die, they became "sentient" in the warp, and they can be devoured and tortured.

Humans in the other hand, if they aren't psykers, don't have that strong of a psychic presence. That means that when they die, they just become a little drop in the infinite ocean of emotions that it is the Warp. Maybe a demon eat them, or maybe not, but it doesn't matter, they won't be consciuos about it.
The same happens with Tau. Their warp presence is so weak, when they die their "souls" nearly dissapear in the warp.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 Crimson wrote:

Captyn_Bob wrote:
Believe in the Emperor and He will absorb your soul when you die. This isn't an "afterlife" but it's definitely preferential (although arguably little different) to being eaten by daemons.

This. It is basically a choice between which warp entity you prefer to eat your soul.

You could always try and pinch a soul stone.

Which isn't much better? Being locked inside a stone for all eternity doesn't exactly sound like fun.

You aren't locked inside a stone. They put you in the eternal circuit of your Craftworld, where you remain with your ancestors for all eternity until your kin needs you and they call you for help in the form of Wraithguards, etc...

You’re also not having the very substance of your soul - which retains a degree of consciousness, Eldar souls are stronger than human in this regard - rent into shreds for what could easily feel like eternity.

Of course, there’s the small matter of getting a stone. Then there’s the rather larger matter of getting away with the stone. You’ll need an extremely fast ship at minimum, in fact one even faster than that for preference, and don’t ever turn your back on any shadows...

Even the post-fall Eldar were 'consumed' by their gods. They didn't regard this with dread like they do Slaanesh, but they probably lost any sense of identity regardless.

Only daemon princes seem to manage to hold on to some thread of self-identity. Saint Celestine seems to be the imperial equivalent, so you could try to go the living saint route. Probably easier to attempt to gain a more physical immortality (Vulcan, Necron Lords, maybe Belisarius Cawl if he's fully digital) through various means, though most of these turn out very, very badly.

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:
The Emperor has a huge presence in the warp. I don't remember exactly how it was worded but lorgar said something along the lines of if he isn't a god, he's as close as. I don't think it would be unreasonable for him to have a section of the warp near the astronomican carved out where all the good imperial servants in life go in death. Plus, as you said the LoftD are literally now the emperors daemons of order, same as plaguebearers for nurgle. You have to remember the warp is a reflection of what the various mortal races feel and believe and do. If enough people think the emperor is a god that will save them, it may well end up being the case.

See that would make sense but we don't have any evidence for this in pretty much any official book. To be honest at a certain point we seem like we're just headcannoning the gak out of this. Do we have anything to back up the idea that worshiping the emperor can actually save your soul in the warp?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Crimson wrote:

Captyn_Bob wrote:
Believe in the Emperor and He will absorb your soul when you die. This isn't an "afterlife" but it's definitely preferential (although arguably little different) to being eaten by daemons.

This. It is basically a choice between which warp entity you prefer to eat your soul.

Is this speculation or is it actually stated somewhere in the black library stuff or the codex/rulebook stuff?

It's threaded throughout a lot of fiction. Um.. 'Farseer' talks about it but it's only a throwaway comment.

there is no imperial "heaven" there is no warp god Emperor (yet), so as soon as a human dies and its soul enters the warp, its food, pure and simple.

The emperor does have a warp presence but we dont know exactly how that works in 40k, the only example of it we have is the Astronomnicon "scours" the edges of the eye of terror, and a representation of the emperor appears there (talon of horus), it is literally death to deamons.

I think I would prefer for there to continue to be no definitive answer for this, as that would undercut a whole bunch of stuff going on in the galaxy.

For example, I expect that a Tau scholar might posit that there are no such things as souls. There might be some type of energy released upon ceasing existence, that certain entities in another dimension consume for food, but to call this a soul and attach existential weight to it is merely a category error.

Interestingly, I think there's a thematic tie between Necrons and Tau that GW hasn't really put much into - that they're both largely corporeally minded civilizations that, while obviously unable to deny that there IS in fact another dimension that humans and Eldar call the warp, do deny, somewhat plausibly, that this has any metaphysical significance.

Tyranids too - to the limited extent to which they might be compared to other entities - are primarily concerned with the corporeal. And Orks just don't give the whole thing much, if any, thought at all.

 Formosa wrote:
there is no imperial "heaven" there is no warp god Emperor (yet), so as soon as a human dies and its soul enters the warp, its food, pure and simple.

The emperor does have a warp presence but we dont know exactly how that works in 40k, the only example of it we have is the Astronomnicon "scours" the edges of the eye of terror, and a representation of the emperor appears there (talon of horus), it is literally death to deamons.

This is kind of how I've interpreted everything i've read about the subject. It leads me to believe that if a human doesn't want to end up warp food he's gona have to ingratiate himself or herself to the chaos gods in a major way. It's a slim chance but it's better than you are auto fethed.

The emperor himself is not a warp god and has no control over anything that happens in the warp. A human, no mater how powerful, cannot become a warp entity.

Now people belief IN the emperor... Thats likely enough that with some kind of trigger (the emperors death) a new warp god would awaken that is the concious reflection of the faith in the emperor. It probably even believes it is the emperor. But its not. The emperor died. The new entity is a construct of the immaterium.

 Lance845 wrote:
The emperor himself is not a warp god and has no control over anything that happens in the warp. A human, no mater how powerful, cannot become a warp entity.

Now people belief IN the emperor... Thats likely enough that with some kind of trigger (the emperors death) a new warp god would awaken that is the concious reflection of the faith in the emperor. It probably even believes it is the emperor. But its not. The emperor died. The new entity is a construct of the immaterium.

This is a very good point (although you could argue either way as to whether this new entity is the old Emperor, Grandfatger's Axe style).

It's also the key concern with acheiving immortality via ascention to Daemon Princehood. Yes it's the only real promised route to immortality, but is it really you? Did you actually die and this new Daemon Prince just think it's you? Or worse, is the daemon fully aware that it's not you and is just walking around in your skin-suit tricking other puny-minded mortals into sacrificing their souls for the false hope of immortality?

 John Prins wrote:
Even the post-fall Eldar were 'consumed' by their gods. They didn't regard this with dread like they do Slaanesh, but they probably lost any sense of identity regardless.

Only daemon princes seem to manage to hold on to some thread of self-identity. Saint Celestine seems to be the imperial equivalent, so you could try to go the living saint route. Probably easier to attempt to gain a more physical immortality (Vulcan, Necron Lords, maybe Belisarius Cawl if he's fully digital) through various means, though most of these turn out very, very badly.

Eldar Gods didnt consume Eldar souls. Pre Fall Eldar could reborn over and over again (and continue their ethernal orgies), spending a day or two as a "ghost" in the warp.


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 Formosa wrote:
there is no imperial "heaven" there is no warp god Emperor (yet), so as soon as a human dies and its soul enters the warp, its food, pure and simple.

The emperor does have a warp presence but we dont know exactly how that works in 40k, the only example of it we have is the Astronomnicon "scours" the edges of the eye of terror, and a representation of the emperor appears there (talon of horus), it is literally death to deamons.

Explain Celestine, Act of Faith, Imperial Saints, and that the Emperor could summon army of golden ghosts of those who died serving him. (as Ferrus).

EricDominus wrote:

 Formosa wrote:
there is no imperial "heaven" there is no warp god Emperor (yet), so as soon as a human dies and its soul enters the warp, its food, pure and simple.

The emperor does have a warp presence but we dont know exactly how that works in 40k, the only example of it we have is the Astronomnicon "scours" the edges of the eye of terror, and a representation of the emperor appears there (talon of horus), it is literally death to deamons.

Explain Celestine, Act of Faith, Imperial Saints, and that the Emperor could summon army of golden ghosts of those who died serving him. (as Ferrus).

Powers associated with a powerful warp presence, but hardly of the same magnitude as a warp-God.

Similar process, but vastly different scales.

EricDominus wrote:

 John Prins wrote:
Even the post-fall Eldar were 'consumed' by their gods. They didn't regard this with dread like they do Slaanesh, but they probably lost any sense of identity regardless.

Only daemon princes seem to manage to hold on to some thread of self-identity. Saint Celestine seems to be the imperial equivalent, so you could try to go the living saint route. Probably easier to attempt to gain a more physical immortality (Vulcan, Necron Lords, maybe Belisarius Cawl if he's fully digital) through various means, though most of these turn out very, very badly.

Eldar Gods didnt consume Eldar souls. Pre Fall Eldar could reborn over and over again (and continue their ethernal orgies), spending a day or two as a "ghost" in the warp.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Formosa wrote:
there is no imperial "heaven" there is no warp god Emperor (yet), so as soon as a human dies and its soul enters the warp, its food, pure and simple.

The emperor does have a warp presence but we dont know exactly how that works in 40k, the only example of it we have is the Astronomnicon "scours" the edges of the eye of terror, and a representation of the emperor appears there (talon of horus), it is literally death to deamons.

Explain Celestine, Act of Faith, Imperial Saints, and that the Emperor could summon army of golden ghosts of those who died serving him. (as Ferrus).

The warp is a reflection of the conscious thoughts of sentient beings. The more psychically powerful the individual the more reflection it has in the warp. But no individual causes as much impact as the massive population of an entire galaxy spanning species.

Celestines, acts of fair, imperial saints, and all of that stuff is the warp empowered by the collective faith of the imperium summoned and carried out by individuals with incredibly devout true faith. The fact that the emperor is strapped into a machine that literally broadcasts his psychic might into the warp as a beacon probably also has something to do with it. But it's not the emperor as some kind of god. It's just a powerful psyker in a machine that has thousands of psykers sacrificed to him every day.

Point being this all has far less to do with the emperor himself and far more to do with what people think of the emperor as a whole. Violence doesn't exist because of Khorne. Khorne exists because of the violence sentient beings commit. The warp isn't a horrible gak hole because the Chaos gods made it that way. The warp is a horrible gak hole because sentient beings are horrible gak holes and the warp reflects that.

Last I checked human souls don't retain any cohesive consciousness/awareness after death in 40k, so it's sort of a moot point. If it's going to discorporate back into the energy from which it was formed whoever gets it it doesn't really matter who gets it.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Last I checked human souls don't retain any cohesive consciousness/awareness after death in 40k, so it's sort of a moot point. If it's going to discorporate back into the energy from which it was formed whoever gets it it doesn't really matter who gets it.

This is true. Only powerfull psykers retain their consciousness in the Warp after death. And all Eldar do, because they are a psychic race.

EricDominus wrote:

 John Prins wrote:
Even the post-fall Eldar were 'consumed' by their gods. They didn't regard this with dread like they do Slaanesh, but they probably lost any sense of identity regardless.

Only daemon princes seem to manage to hold on to some thread of self-identity. Saint Celestine seems to be the imperial equivalent, so you could try to go the living saint route. Probably easier to attempt to gain a more physical immortality (Vulcan, Necron Lords, maybe Belisarius Cawl if he's fully digital) through various means, though most of these turn out very, very badly.

Eldar Gods didnt consume Eldar souls. Pre Fall Eldar could reborn over and over again (and continue their ethernal orgies), spending a day or two as a "ghost" in the warp.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Formosa wrote:
there is no imperial "heaven" there is no warp god Emperor (yet), so as soon as a human dies and its soul enters the warp, its food, pure and simple.

The emperor does have a warp presence but we dont know exactly how that works in 40k, the only example of it we have is the Astronomnicon "scours" the edges of the eye of terror, and a representation of the emperor appears there (talon of horus), it is literally death to deamons.

Explain Celestine, Act of Faith, Imperial Saints, and that the Emperor could summon army of golden ghosts of those who died serving him. (as Ferrus).

I can explain all of them very easily.

Acts of Faith, they are just psychic powers given a different name, much like the innate "wyrd" powers that used to kick around, the sisters are just drawing from the warp in a different way, remember we know that belief has an impact on the warp, this is just there belief bouncing back at them, not the act of a higher being.

Celestine is just a being infused with this belief, almost like how a deamon host take over the body, celestine and sabat are infused by the power of faith.

The last one is the easiest of all, they are just psychic manifistations of the Emperors psychic attack, pure power, that spirit of Ferrus Manus wasnt literally Ferrus, but a psychic Haemonculus given the form of Ferrus.

Any kind of supernatural thing that happens in 40k is the warp, or drawing from it.

Unless you are a powerful psyker, or the emps likes you, you are screwed, the warp is gonna get your soul.

I'd be willing to accept that some human souls are ignored by chaos and will eventually get reincarnated.

I mean come on, the warp is huge. There is no way that daemons infest all of it.

 Madoch1 wrote:
I'd be willing to accept that some human souls are ignored by chaos and will eventually get reincarnated.

I mean come on, the warp is huge. There is no way that daemons infest all of it.

I'd agree if it wasn't more likely that they get ripped to shreds by the sheer forces whipping around the warp. It's like throwing a wet napkin into a hurricane.

Does it matter? Those normal human souls can't feel anything.

Is like when you die, does it matter that your corpse is used by worms and other kinds of insects to fest and reproduce? Is not like you are feeling it.

 Galas wrote:
Does it matter? Those normal human souls can't feel anything.

Is like when you die, does it matter that your corpse is used by worms and other kinds of insects to fest and reproduce? Is not like you are feeling it.

You don't know if a soul in 40k can feel things or not.
The short of it is that we do not know exactly what happens to a human's soul after death in 40k, and that is exactly the way it should stay. Same way in real life.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Galas wrote:
Does it matter? Those normal human souls can't feel anything.

Is like when you die, does it matter that your corpse is used by worms and other kinds of insects to fest and reproduce? Is not like you are feeling it.

You don't know if a soul in 40k can feel things or not.
The short of it is that we do not know exactly what happens to a human's soul after death in 40k, and that is exactly the way it should stay. Same way in real life.

Well we do know. The answer is they do. Hence why dead Eldar get eternal torture.

Eldar have a significantly larger presense in the warp than the vast majority of humanity. Theirs is so powerful their gods litterally manifested there. No matter how many or how powerful the faith humanity has never manifested a single warp god to date.

Its fair to assume that outside of a few particularly potent individuals humans presense in the warp (their souls) might not even be sentient.