>The Emperor WAS dead all the time. What would you think

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>>50438386
Astronomican wouldn't work.
>The guy on the throne isn't the Emperor, it was Malcador the whole time.

>>50438386
If the Astronomicon is just a psychic remnant of his immense being, then this makes sense. It's also thematically appropriate.

>>50438386
>the emperor was never dead
>the emperor's will lives on inside every loyal servant of the imperium
>so long as imperials' fighting spirit endures, the emperor will never die

>>50438386
Then the Sisters of Battle would make zero sense, and in fact would probably be some sort of roundabout chaos worship.

>>50438465
>Astronomican wouldn't work
Could be made plausible through something along the lines of what >>50438623 said. The faith of untold billions, even if not concrete, could through Warp fuckery give him a psychic presence as a beacon of light. Would be a way to stop humanity being completely & utterly fucked & make the place of the Inquisition more interesting to boot

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>>50438386
I think the bigger twist would be if the emperor could still even register what was happening around him.

1% increase in his deadness is hardly a twist at all.

>>50438386
Was this not the original idea?

>>50438832

This is WH40k. There's no way the universe would be that kind to him.

>>50438386
>The Emperor fell after slaying Horus
>Humans literally have Ork magic
>They believe in the Astronomican so it exists
Also, did I mention Ollannius Pius?

aren't thousands of psykers sacrificed to keep the golden throne running every day? the emperor could be long dead and gone and it might be them keeping the astronomicon running.

>The human that was known as the Emperor died long ago.
>However, Humanity still believes.
>The seething masses of humanity, trillions of tiny ripples in the warp look to Holy Terra and pray to The Emperor.
>And all that belief, all that power, does not simply disappear.
>Which is why, long ago, when the human known as the Emperor died...
>The God known as The Emperor was born.

>>50438465
>The guy on the throne isn't the Emperor, it was Malcador the whole time.

That... that could work.

The Astronomicon isn't powered by the Emperor, it's directed by him. Always was, even when he was walking around.

>>50438665
I mean, really? Living Saints, venerating the God-Emperor?

What did you think was going on? It's the Sterile Warp, shorn of the mutation, the madness, the horror, and the witches. It's precisely what the Emperor hoped to do to the Warp, just not the way he intended to go about it.

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>>50442018
Are you kidding? That would be the ultimate torture to him. He'd be forced to be awake and aware, for ten thousand years, and watch the people he worked so hard to uplift from barbarous religious zealotry worship him as a god and fall further back to ignorance and superstition every single day. He would have to listen to every word and edict he issued be twisted and used against his own people by the corrupt High Lords who claim to be working in his name. He would have to watch as the Imperium he spent so long building slowly crumbled and died at his feet. He would have to be aware of every single threat to humanity, old and new, and be unable to do a damned thing about it.

The Emperor being cognizant of his fate would literally be the most grimdark thing in 40k.

>>50443254

That's *exactly* what I meant. Feeling his body decay bit by bit and knowing that the Imperium and its one-time ideals are decaying around him. Seems just right for the setting, really, if you assume he's still alive at all.

I'd actually disagree on it being the most grimdark aspect of all, in fact, but that probably boils down to personal opinion.

>>50443164
It would also beg a very, very important question.

If that's Malcador, where's the Emperor?

>>50438465
There's a theory that the guy on the throne is actually Horus. Emperor died at the encounter but in his last moments gave Horus chance at redemption to carry on as beacon of mankind.

Why doesn't the imperium just use necromancy to bring he emperor back? Or put him in a dreadnought?

>>50438465
>Malcador

The hardest working man in the Imperium! There is nowhere within the Imperium and not find evidence of this man hustlin' for the Emperor.

>>50443508

Still on the couch. You know. Chillin'.

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>>50443508

Hey its me ur emperor :^)

>>50438386
>The Emperor was never alive, because he never existed.
>The Emperor is a collective hallucination shared by ALL the galaxy.

>>50443717

I always like the idea that the Emperor was a psychic manifestation of Malcador that took on life of his own. The very idea of the master of mankind made flesh. Their discussions about point when mankind would not need the Emperor take on new meanings.

>>50443629
>necromancy to bring back the emps
thats heresy
>stick him in a dreadnaught
something's gotta A: direct the astronomicon and B: constantly deal with Magnus's fuckup.

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>>50438386
Isn't it already heavily implied that's the case and the entire Imperium is just taking part in one big eternal Dead Parrot sketch?

>>50444407
>>50444407
>that's heresy

But calling it heresy would also be heresy because then you'd be calling the emperor a heresy, which goes against him and is thus heresy.

>>50443935
I've always liked that idea too.

Big E was created by Malcador specifically to be the ultimate figurehead to unite humanity.

>>50438386
I already saw it coming.

>>50444560
What powers astronomicon then? Why Imperial palace hasn't been overrun by daemons yet?

>>50442585
the sacrifices are the light, the golden throne is the lens.

>>50448043
Human sacrifice. About 1000 psykers a day. They're only mutants.

>>50448043
The Emperors doesnt power the Astronomican, he directs it.

>>50443581
That could work, I do believe the emperor would have forgiven horus, even upon seeing the body of sanguinius he was still reluctant to kill him.

The Astronomicon is just Big E's humongous psychic dick, the souls of sacrificed psykers flowing through its throbbing veins, forever infuriating Slaanesh's wet Eye of Terror because it points to the opposite direction, keeping her in a perpetual state of blue balls.

>>50438482
Or it could be that the Astronomicon is produced by the billions of psykers being burnt up to fuel it every day. You know, like what canon says is the origins of it? The Emperor's main role is directing the collective psionic & life-energy extracted from all the sacrifices, but the power of the Astronomicon is still rooted in the sacrifices themselves.

In simpler terms, the Astonomicon is a giant light house, the psykers are the oil being burned to make the light, and the Emperor is the mirror that reflects that light out into the darkness to serve as a beacon.

>>50443581
Awesomheretastic