Warhammer 40k - what if the Emperor woke up?

[Borgholio]

I know that in the 40k-verse, the Emperor of Mankind was gravely wounded during the Horus Heresy and only survived by being placed on the golden throne. In addition to keeping him from dying instantly, it allowed him to use is psychic power to keep the web portal in the palace closed so demons don't invade Terra. However over the centuries, the throne started to wear out and now it's no longer capable of sustaining the Emperor. If he dies, there are all sorts of predictions of what could happen...most of them are not good. But has it ever been discussed what would happen if he recovers? If somehow the throne is repaired and the Emperor eventually fully heals himself and is capable of taking direct control of the Imperium again? Would he be horrified at the state of the Imperium and try to fix it? Would those currently in power actually try to kill him when they are told by their "God" that they're doing it all wrong? Would he still be enslaved to the throne since it's still necessary to keep the web portal closed? Anybody have any thoughts?

[Elheru Aran]

Various possibilities.

--He will probably have to either stay in the Throne or find some other way of keeping the Warp portal that Magnus fucked up closed. If he has to stay in it, there's a lot less that he can do directly, but being able to exact his commands without having to rely upon the High Lords will be useful.

--He's kind of a dick. Likes to keep his cards so close to his chest they're tattooed on his nipples. But yes, he would probably either try to fix the Imperium, or take advantage of the massive belief-power that's been endowed on him over the past ten thousand years or so. *How* he would fix it is quite another story. If he decides to be like he was in the Heresy period, we are potentially talking massive purges.

--There is quite possibly going to be civil war incited by people in power who don't want to give it over. There have been some false Emperors before, it's not unknown IIRC. Even without the false Emperors, there's been usurpers like Vandire.

[SilverDragonRed]

The webway portal under his throne isn't fully closed. He is certainly using some of his power to stem the flow of daemons, but the Custodes are ensuring that those that do manage to get through don't overrun Terra by fighting the largest and longest running daemonic invasion in Imperial history.

[Elheru Aran]

We also have to consider that the Astronomican might be compromised. He's an integral part of that system. This would mean some serious havoc being played with Imperial shipping all across the galaxy as suddenly the Navis Nobilite loses a major 'landmark' in the Warp.

[bilateralrope]

--He's kind of a dick. Likes to keep his cards so close to his chest they're tattooed on his nipples. But yes, he would probably either try to fix the Imperium, or take advantage of the massive belief-power that's been endowed on him over the past ten thousand years or so. *How* he would fix it is quite another story. If he decides to be like he was in the Heresy period, we are potentially talking massive purges.

Would he pay much attention to the fact that His plans led to the Heresy, while the Imperium has existed in more or less its current form for the 10,000 years since the Heresy ?
Which is a pretty big data point saying that His plan failed, but the Imperium has found a plan that works.

--There is quite possibly going to be civil war incited by people in power who don't want to give it over. There have been some false Emperors before, it's not unknown IIRC. Even without the false Emperors, there's been usurpers like Vandire.

How many people would notice a difference ?

How many would notice no change beyond the names on the orders they receive ?
Or maybe not even that. Yes, the guy at the top of the Imperium has woken up, but He isn't giving direct orders to their planet. That's a detail that isn't cared about till some distance down the power structure.

We also have to consider that the Astronomican might be compromised. He's an integral part of that system. This would mean some serious havoc being played with Imperial shipping all across the galaxy as suddenly the Navis Nobilite loses a major 'landmark' in the Warp.

Wasn't the Astronomicon working before the Emperor got placed into the Throne ?

[Elheru Aran]

--There is quite possibly going to be civil war incited by people in power who don't want to give it over. There have been some false Emperors before, it's not unknown IIRC. Even without the false Emperors, there's been usurpers like Vandire.

How many people would notice a difference ?

How many would notice no change beyond the names on the orders they receive ?
Or maybe not even that. Yes, the guy at the top of the Imperium has woken up, but He isn't giving direct orders to their planet. That's a detail that isn't cared about till some distance down the power structure.

While the power structure is very large, the amount of people at the top levels is still small enough that, say, Sector Governors might be made aware of the Emperor's return. This is certainly not something that would be *hidden*. The Jesus-Emperor gets up and walking around? Well, hell, guess all those prayers for his health did something, huh? This is something that would influence the Imperial Cult at a *major* level.

We also have to consider that the Astronomican might be compromised. He's an integral part of that system. This would mean some serious havoc being played with Imperial shipping all across the galaxy as suddenly the Navis Nobilite loses a major 'landmark' in the Warp.

Wasn't the Astronomicon working before the Emperor got placed into the Throne ?

In some form, yeah. But IIRC he's a major component of it now. Not sure how much of it is his personal power and how much of it is all the psykers getting eaten by the system.

[Dartzap]

Considering what they are doing with the WHF stuff....who knows. Maybe the End Times are coming for 40k as well? Maybe Guilliman has been healing in that stasis field? The Lion gets off his arse and goes wackamole with Luther again? Russ finally figures out where left the keys to his Thunderhawk and returns to Fenris?

Uh, that wasn't the question, was it? Whoops!

[bilateralrope]

While the power structure is very large, the amount of people at the top levels is still small enough that, say, Sector Governors might be made aware of the Emperor's return. This is certainly not something that would be *hidden*. The Jesus-Emperor gets up and walking around? Well, hell, guess all those prayers for his health did something, huh? This is something that would influence the Imperial Cult at a *major* level.

Yes, they would be aware of him. But how many would think that He's coming after the power they have ?

How many would only see Him as taking power from people above them, leaving their position basically unchanged ?

Add in that He is their god and I can't see many rebelling unless He tries to make drastic changes quickly.

[Purple]

There is actually a series on Youtube to this effect. It's a bit cheesy but it addresses some interesting points.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR8Six9 ... WA&index=1

[Sidewinder]

Maybe the End Times are coming for 40k as well?

Graham McNeill personally denied this, in his blog.

To quote the late, great Brian Glover, “This is rumour control, here are the facts…”

You may have seen a few rumours flying around t’interweb about the end times of 40k.

40k is NOT ending (well, beyond the mechanisms of the Golden Throne failing, the constant encroachments of alien invaders and the insidious corruption of Chaos…).

Context is everything…

This all came about after a conversation I had at the BL Weekender III, where I talked about things I’d LIKE to do in the next Ultramarines trilogy (not necessarily GETTING to do, but which I’d LIKE to do). One of the things I said was that I thought it’d be fun to bring Guilliman back, “probably not in a literal way, but in some form or another, and that such an event would, naturally, have further ramifications for the Chapter…”. I also said that I’d floated a bunch of ideas past the guys at editorial and had received a cautious, “That sounds pretty cool,” response.

And that’s it. That’s as far as any “progress” on this has gone.

So, get those panties unbunched, those knickers untwisted. Keep Calm and Keep Playing 40K.

See ya,

Graham

[Elheru Aran]

I have to say McNeil is probably right. WHFB has been around for a long time, longer than 40K. An overhaul of the setting was long overdue. 'Eternal War' is a little more 40K's thing, so the status quo is far more likely to continue there for a while. In a decade or so they might pull an End Times for 40K, but not anytime soon (and that's assuming GW stays together that long).

[Simon_Jester]

--He's kind of a dick. Likes to keep his cards so close to his chest they're tattooed on his nipples. But yes, he would probably either try to fix the Imperium, or take advantage of the massive belief-power that's been endowed on him over the past ten thousand years or so. *How* he would fix it is quite another story. If he decides to be like he was in the Heresy period, we are potentially talking massive purges.

Would he pay much attention to the fact that His plans led to the Heresy, while the Imperium has existed in more or less its current form for the 10,000 years since the Heresy ?
Which is a pretty big data point saying that His plan failed, but the Imperium has found a plan that works.

If the Emperor were good at realizing he'd made a mistake, the Heresy would never have happened in the first place.

--There is quite possibly going to be civil war incited by people in power who don't want to give it over. There have been some false Emperors before, it's not unknown IIRC. Even without the false Emperors, there's been usurpers like Vandire.

How many would notice no change beyond the names on the orders they receive ?

How many people would notice a difference ?[/quote]They don't have to notice a difference- they just have to be a follower of someone who is.

In historical civil wars over who had the better claim to the throne, most of the people who died didn't have strong opinions on the matter. But they were personally loyal to one of the contestants for power... or they just happened to get caught in the crossfire.

This is especially possible in a setting like 40k where most people are almost totally ignorant of the realities of their universe- we know far more about what's really going on than almost any person in the Imperium, just from reading a handful of books.

[Sgt_Artyom]

There's a few factions actually working towards healing or resurrecting the Emperor currently at work in the Imperium (Star Child theory and all that). I seem to recall that aside from wanting to work on

the Imperial web way project that one of the reasons the Emperor returned to Terra in the first place (essentially laying the ground work for the Horus Heresy) is that maintaining the astronomicon was

just taking too much out of him to the point they he nearly died in battle against an ork warlord (only to be saved by Horus). The portal being all screwy is one of the main reasons (aside from it keeping

him alive) that he was interred upon the Golden throne but things have changed quite a bit since M30. It's always said that the warp is a physco-reactive plane and that it mirrors our own reality

(demons and such essentially being reflections of our own fears, desires and such) so wouldn't the change in that now hundreds of billions if not trillions of human beings believing the Emperor is a god

instead of going along with the old "Imperial Truth" policy empower him to a rather insane amount? What couldn't he do?