The Master of Mankind (Volume 41) (The Horus Heresy)

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Roboute Guilliman, primarch of the Ultramarines Legion and lord of Ultramar at the time of the Great Crusade. Before that plan could come to pass, the Dark Gods of Chaos intervened. They snatched up the nascent primarchs and scattered them through the Warp, so that each came to rest upon a different one of Humanity's far-flung worlds. Some say that it was at this time that the Ruinous Powers left their mark upon the Emperor's gene-sons, and that this is why fully half of the primarchs betrayed their father and the Imperium during the Horus Heresy. Slightly over two standard centuries into the Great Crusade, the Emperor of Mankind decided to leave the direct leadership of military affairs to His sons, the Primarchs, and returned to Terra to oversee the construction of an administrative apparatus that could fairly govern the new interstellar Imperium He had created. For the rest of the Heresy, the Emperor was forced to deal with the Golden Throne's malfunction, which created a Warp Breach in the depths of the Imperial Palace. As Daemons flooded through the breach, the Custodian Guard and Sisters of Silence held them at bay while the Emperor punishingly exerted himself on the Golden Throne to prevent all of Terra itself from being swallowed. With his attentions turned to this crisis, the Emperor left management of Horus' rebellion to Malcador and Rogal Dorn. During this sad state of affairs, the Emperor engaged in telepathic communications with the lowly Astropath Kai Zulane, who had been given a vision of the Heresy's conclusion. During their psychic communiques, the Emperor revealed he not only already knew his ultimate fate, but had accepted it. [13]

Masters of Mankind: Essays and Lectures, 1969-2013 Masters of Mankind: Essays and Lectures, 1969-2013

The Emperor seated upon the Golden Throne in the dungeons of the Inner Palace during the Siege of Terra at the time of the Horus Heresy. Before he was trapped atop the Golden Throne, the Emperor could appear to any individual however he wanted. Each person perceiving him differently. The Emperor has appeared as male or female, or neither. As an elderly man or a child. As a peasant, king, magician, and a fool. None has ever seen His true face. [38g] The core of the device that would become the Golden Throne, whose exact origin during the Dark Age of Technology is currently unknown, was discovered by the Emperor sometime in the 30th Millennium during the Unification Wars on Terra, buried deep in sunken ruins under a huge and inhospitable desert on the continent of Asia. As swiftly as he put his plans for Ultramar into action, he embarked on the root and branch reorganisation of his Legion. Adopting an extraordinarily detailed plan which drew from both the military doctrines and political philosophies of his surrogate homeworld, a detailed study of the history of the XIII th and each and every other Legion and armed force under the Emperor's banner in their then current form, he remade the organisational structure and tactical doctrines of his Legion accordingly. But before Guilliman could move to make use of his new armies, the Chaos God Khorne took advantage of the Noctis Aeterna to launch a daemonic assault upon the Throneworld of Mankind, initiating the Battle of Lion's Gate.This project was intended to open up the Aeldari Webway to Mankind by establishing a portal into its galaxy-spanning network from Terra. This would provide a means of instantaneous interstellar travel between the worlds of the newborn Imperium of Man, making navigation through the dangers of the Warp unnecessary and literally connecting all the worlds of Mankind instantaneously. This would create a truly unified human race as never before in history. The Emperor believed that this level of unity would be necessary if humanity was truly to thrive and prosper in such a dangerous universe. This spread of cohesive civilisation in the Legion's path served both to solidify and expand supply lines for its advance, facilitating in no small part the great speed and range of the Ultramarines' conquests.

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The immortal being who would become known as the Emperor proceeded to haunt the history of humanity as a ghost; watching, waiting and occasionally influencing. [3c] Living secretly amongst mankind, he developed his abilities until his psychic might allowed him to gain knowledge of not only his own world, but of the dangers beyond it. Aware then of the vast predations awaiting humanity, the being that would become known as the Emperor resolved to guide and protect humanity. The Emperor took many forms during this time, both male and female. Some were brutal conquerors, some became meek to inherit the Earth. [38g] One identity of the Emperor during this time was Alexander the Great, and in an account given by Horus it is said that He wept before the River Hyphasis when He thought there were no more worlds to conquer. Not long after, He discovered what would be named the Golden Throne. [38f] To him, a military force was more than the warriors who wielded arms -- it was their chain of supply, the ships which carried them between, the manufactora which supplied their munitions and the worlds which bred their recruits; they were indivisible and equally vital. To Guilliman's mind, all of these things made a Space Marine Legion, and he meant to control them all so that his own would prosper and the Emperor's will be done. In the aftermath of these events, the Emperor evolved a new plan. Using genetic material which had been derived from the Primarchs, he created a caste of warriors which would possess some of the qualities of the Primarchs. These successors to the genetically-altered warriors of the Unification Era were the Legiones Astartes, the Space Marines of the First Founding. [3c] After purging the Thunder Warriors and replacing them with these more efficient warriors, The Emperor led the Space Marines into the reconquest of the Sol System. He drove Xenos enslavers from the moons of Saturn and Jupiter and most importantly, achieved peace and eventual integration with the Mechanicum of Mars. This alliance provided the Emperor with much of the means and materiel to extend his crusade into the stars. [Needs Citation]According to Imperial legend, the Emperor of Mankind created the primarchs from artificially-engineered genes using His own genome as a template, carefully imbuing each of them with unique superhuman powers. Imperial doctrine goes on to tell how the Ruinous Powers of Chaos spirited away the primarchs within their gestation capsules from beneath the Imperial Palace in the Himalazian (Himalaya) Mountains on Terra, scattering them widely across the galaxy through the Warp. Roboute hurried to his foster father's rescue. Leaving his own troops to deal with the drunken rioters without quarter, Roboute personally fought his way towards the centre of the city, passing the bloody work of rebel firing squads everywhere in the government district, but at the senate house, found himself too late. All was a bullet-ridden and blasted ruin, and even the rebels it seemed had fled the scene to join the looting.

Book review: The Master of Mankind – David Muscat Literature

In 2005 the hymn was voted second in BBC One show Songs of Praise poll to find the United Kingdom's favourite hymn. [5] The Indomitus Crusade would reach the end of its first major phase approximately twelve standard years later at the Battle of Raukos. Afterwards, Guilliman would turn his attention to helping his Realm of Ultramar defeat the forces of the Death Guard Traitor Legion and the servants of Nurgle in the Plague Wars, driving his traitorous brother Mortarion and the Death Guard Traitor Legion from the region in ca. 012.M42. The God-Emperor of Mankind - After the Horus Heresy, the citizens of the Imperium came to worship him as a god. Apparently, the core of the Golden Throne device survived the disaster caused by Magnus' intrusion, or was repaired following the catastrophe by the Mechanicum's Adepts, but the Emperor's Imperial Webway Project lay in uncompleted ruins, and before the project could be restarted, the Horus Heresy erupted and the Forces of Chaos laid siege to Terra itself. It is stated by Malcador the Sigillite that none has seen the Emperor's true form or known His true name. [38g] However, known identities include:The child was brought before Konor Guilliman, one of a pair of nobles who bore the title "consul", whose authority governed the most civilised and powerful region of Macragge, and Konor adopted the infant as his own son in a manner not uncommon to his culture, naming him Roboute. When the Horus Heresy set the galaxy ablaze, Roboute Guilliman fought with loyalty and determination for the Imperium that he believed in with all his heart. When he thought that the Emperor had fallen, the primarch established a new seat of power on Macragge, planning to preserve the Emperor's secular purity and Imperial Truth within his own Realm of Ultramar as the Imperium Secundus. So it was that when the primarch's fallen capsule was discovered by a group of magnates who were on a hunt in a local forest, they knew it immediately for a device of advanced technology rather than a thing of superstition and magic. The magnates broke the capsule's seal and discovered a strikingly beautiful and perfectly formed child within it who was surrounded by a glowing nimbus of power.

The Master of Mankind - Aaron Dembski Bowden

Ever loyal, the Sigillite was more than willing to sacrifice himself for his Emperor. But before he ascended to take his place upon the Throne, the Sigillite had one last duty to perform. He was accompanied by a group of twelve hooded attendants. In stern silence the Emperor surveyed the robed figures that Malcador had brought before Him, and He saw that His faithful servant had done well. Malcador the Sigillite, the Emperor's most trusted advisor, was named as the Regent of Terra and the first lord of the governing Council of Terra who would lead it in the Emperor's absence. The Fabricator-General of the Mechanicum, Kelbor-Hal, the Chief Custodian of the Legio Custodes Constantin Valdor and the leaders of the Astra Telepathica and administrative divisions of the Imperium were appointed to the Council of Terra. The Throne was modified by the ancient Mechanicum under the direction of the Emperor of Mankind following the end of the Siege of Terra and now sustains His mortally crippled body's life functions. Even as the Emperor's slowly rotting physical form sits inert within the Golden Throne, His mind remains fully active in the Warp. The Astronomican requires the sacrifice of large numbers of psykers daily for it to continue to function, and also for the Emperor to be kept alive on the Golden Throne. The Throne is maintained by members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, although as time passes the duty becomes increasingly difficult. Due to their Blank nature, the Sisters of Silence see none of the splendor of the Emperor. During the War Within the Webway the Sister of Silence Kaeria Casryn saw the Emperor for what he truly was: a simple man, no more or less, in perpetual agony upon the Golden Throne. His mouth open in a silent scream, the pain of his efforts seeming to age his ageless face. While he wore his golden armor, he had no psychic corona and no golden halo. [14d]Enthroned within the life-sustaining Golden Throne, the Emperor's will has transcended his maimed body. The Emperor is now divorced from the day-to-day running of the Imperium; this is left to the Adeptus Terra who govern in his name. [Needs Citation] His will is omnipotent, extending across the million worlds that comprise His Imperium. For ten thousand years the Master of Mankind has served humanity, simultaneously carrying out a multitude of tasks vital to its survival. All at once He guides his race through the Emperor's Tarot, soul-binds psykers, holds audiences with His most important servants and directs the Astronomican beacon that guides space vessels through the Warp. His immense psychic powers constantly keep the Chaos Gods in the Warp at bay, preventing their intrusion into the material universe and protecting his people throughout the galaxy. [1] The Emperor prepared extensively for the Great Crusade; he created the special astrotelepath corps to link his eventual dominion together, and caused the creation of the Astronomican, a supremely powerful signal device powered by the Emperor's own psychic might that would allow simplified and safer travel through the Warp. Chief amongst his designs, however, were the creation of superhuman warriors, the logical extension of the gene-troopers already under his command. He had first undertaken the Primarch Project, the creation of twenty infants from his own genetic code, designed to mature into powerful generals for his armies. However, this plan went awry with the intervention of the Chaos Powers. Other sources state that the Emperor's longtime collegue and fellow Perpetual Erda cast the Primarchs into the Warp to deny the Emperor His plans for them. [30] While accounts vary as to exactly what happened, the end of the tale is always the same; the Primarchs were cast into the Warp and thought lost. [4] During the tumultuous event, the Emperor's gene-lab was devastated by the forces that scattered the Primarchs. He held up the collapsing underground roof with his psychic power until the vaults workers and data could be safely evacuated. [29b] Afterwards Malcador and Constantin Valdor believed the Primarchs dead or corrupted. However, the Emperor sensed their echoes in the Warp and knew they were still alive. Malcador was surprised that the Emperor began to refer to the lost Primarchs as his "sons", something Valdor saw as an "ebb" in his attempts to suppress his human emotions. [29a] Timing was crucial, for Horus knew that several more Loyalist Legions were en route to beleaguered Terra, and he wanted to finish affairs before they arrived. He could only do this by confronting the Emperor in person. This would force the Warmaster to act rashly, against the counsel of his closest advisors. The Emperor had to be ready to take advantage of this mistake. Before He began His conquest of the galaxy, the Emperor of Mankind created the primarchs. Utilising incredible skills at genetic engineering, and the phenomenal psychic power bound into His own form, He forged twenty demigod sons. These were superlative transhuman warriors, strategists and leaders, the finest qualities of Humanity refined in the crucible of science and magnified through the lens of divinity.