40K Charted: The Emperor Part One – Origins
December 7, 2015 by warzan
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Excellent video guys! I’m hoping we get a massive injection of new fluff when Horus Heresy: Master of Mankind comes out.
The Emperor’s story sounds familiar….
“…And so the Emperor finds himself wondering the Earth, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home…”
Good video guys, really enjoying these 40k charted videos, especially as the launch of them has coincided perfectly with a resurgence in 40k gaming in my club. I do have one question though, Is AJ’s shirt a 3D magic eye picture?
It’s the chaos corruption bleeding through.
So!? Was the Emperor of mankind born on the same planet on which you can find the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy?
Sigmar = Emperor / Emperor = Sigmar 😉
Exactly. I’m surprised the guys didn’t mention it because that’s the version I thought was the most popular… Maybe I don’t know as much as I thought about this intricate universe…
Can you guys expand on this?
In the Fantasy fluff, Sigmar was the first emperor, he united the savage tribes of men and, with the dwarves, fought the orcs and some chaos invasion. When he died, he was elevated to god-hood. Karl Franz is said to be a reincarnation of Sigmar himself and he wields Ghal Maraz (a dwarf made hammer of great power) into battle. If he reincarnated once, maybe he did so multiple times to help humanity when it most needed it. Until the technolgy and his mastery of the warp allowed him to create the primarchs and launch his space crusade… That would… Read more »
Well considering the old world has now been destroyed… Its just a fan theory anyway. Besides a grey knight was recently hinted at in the old world before it got destroyed, and grey knights didn’t turn up till after the emperor ended up on the golden throne.
Good point
I like to think he was born from an egg on a mountain top, and in episode two @aj86 gives me all the evidence I need to confirm that. 😉
Dont forget the skaven prank calling the eldar either, or the lizardmen trying to contact the old ones, wasa bit fluff in the crimbo issue of WD last year which basically said that… Plus with the whole realmgate thing in AoS and endtimes fluff basically going its a multiverse, my take is that god hood = extra dimensional being, and you reside in the warp i.e. the space between dimensions. Seeing as the Empmar/Sigperor had the idea of space marines only makes sense he refines the idea into sigmarines i.e. no primarch to corrupt, recruit from ferverant anti chaos bods… Read more »
However that was in the Nurgle’s garden, therefore the warp. In the Warp time has no meaning, so the Grey Knight they met in the End Times could’ve come from any time or place.
fantastic show, for me person that quit WH40k bercause of GW policy its great to have pick back to that fantastic world! to rmind me how much I love fluff of that game.
I’m looking forward to the next episode already!
Great show as ever. I could listen to your chatter all day chaps 😎
Radio Warzan …
Interesting points guys. The trouble with the old world timeline match up with that of the Emperors timeline is the birth of Slaanesh and the disappearance of the old ones. Although as we have discussed, timelines are based on the idea of a linear passage of time.
Age of sigmar has kind of thrown a spanner in the works with the idea of the two worlds being one.
The other alternative is that the timeline of warhammer is actually after that of 40k, or indeed a world within the same universe, but sealed off from the imperium by warp storms.
I must find my old 40k stuff – but I thought the Emperor created himself in Anatolia (8,000 BC) because human civilizations were starting to concentrate and urbanize – creating blips of ‘people thought’ in the warp. I think that’s when written/urban History began ??
my old archaeology books from the 90s used to put 40,000 years ago as the date for ‘behaviorally modern humans’ so I guess we are half way between creation and extinction! 🙂
I think I read the Emperor ‘deal-marker’ origin story in the Horus Heresy books? – but I thought it was just a Chaos explanation to trick people?
Correct.
@aj86 if the warhammer and 40k universe’s coexist in a multiverse, there is no reason why the time has to run linearly, much the same as time runs differently in the warp to real space. The birth of slaanesh creates the eye of terror in the 40k universe, but would cause ripples in the warp, which would propagate at different rates through to other universe’s/realms, think throwing a pebble into a pond and watching the ripples disperse around obstructions… It would explain why perhaps slaanesh is the most 40k of the chaotic entities and always felt a bit out of… Read more »
This was the most informative episode so far for me. I actually knew nothing of the Emperor’s origins.
Have you guys ever considered writing up a source list for each show? Or even a ‘Recommended Reading’? Or would that just wreck poor AJ’s head trying to remember where he read everything? 😀
Lol. I can sure try and add some recommended reading for each video!
In general however, if you are new to 40k fluff I would highly recommend:
The Horus Heresy Series (Starting with the 1st four books- Horus Rising, False Gods, Galaxy in Flames, The Flight of the Eisenstein).
The rule book and codex’s provide great overviews of the fluff of each race.
Some of my favourite Black library titles however include:
Astra Militarum- Guants Ghosts
Inquisition- Eisenhorne/Ravenor
Space Wolves- The Space Wolf Omnibus
As a space marine reference guide, I really enjoyed the Insignium Astartes book!
Gaunt’s Ghosts is an awesome series. Dan Abnett is a great author. He gave us some of the best 40k novels (Titanicus, anyone)!
Was always a fan of the original gaunts ghosts shorts that used to be in inferno, really should give the novels a bash…
I’m actually a huge collector when it comes to the Black Library (300+ novels and counting!) but I missed out on quite a lot of the dedicated background books. I’d love to buy them up but the prices on ebay are a killer.
if you don’t mind second hand put the books your after on your Amazon wish list and just keep checking sometimes you can get some at a steal. @irredeemable
Is the Inquisitor trilogy by Ian Watson still legit? coz that had some weird stuff about the Star Child Emperor and mind control…
I was reading a website about the Emperor and they were suggesting two options based on the old lore and the new Horus Heresy descriptions:
(a) The Emperor used a ‘psykic block’ to appear human sized throughout history
(b) He boosted his genes to ‘hulk up’ for the re-unification of Terra 🙂
That version was actually mentioned in the 3rd edition rulebook, the whole thing was a lie made up by a tzentchian cult… So kinda happened, but kinda didn’t lol
According to the old Slaves to Darkness and Realms of Chaos the Emperor came about differently to how it is put across here. Story is in Anatolia, 8000BC. The shamans of earth numbered in their hundreds, they were immortal, every time they died they reincarnated through the warp, which at the time was a placid place and basically the natural aether. As mankind became more prominent the warp started to become turbulent (at this point Khorne, Tzeentch, and Nurgle hadn’t really risen to more than a ripple in the warp, they developed later as civilisation led to war, politics, and… Read more »
Apologies for the wall of text, 40k background was my first passion, I loved the stories more than the game! 🙂
I’ll really have to give Slaves to Darkness and The Lost and the Damned another read… It’s been a while!
Oh and @Warzan, try and read the short story, The Last Church. It is a fantastic book about the emperor and his reasons behind the enlightenment of rational thought he is pushing, well worth the read!
I really liked ‘The Last Church’. Gave a very different spin on the impact of the Imperial Truth.
I am glad somebody wrote that before I did.
To add the difference between Emperor and the chaos gods is the fact they are a disturbance in the warp while he is one with the flow making him impossible to detect and in harmony with the spirits realm, in contrast with the chaos gods.
that’s it! – that’s what I was trying to remember – thanks!
So the emperor was rory the roman 😉
awesome video! I never thought something could draw me back to the 40k universe…but you guys did it I’m amazed! as far as I remember, I could be wrong, wasn’t humankind enslaved by machines because they got away from religion became to much involved with technology and science what ‘dehumanised’ mankind and that brought the enslavement? thats also the reason why in the 41st millennium there are no technological advancements anymore only discoveries of ancient tech thats been created before and forgotten. also isn’t the main purpose of the mechanicus to make such discoveries and make sure mankind dosent fall… Read more »
a little addon: technology and science brought mankind away from religion but in the end became their religion, thats why they have tech priests…if that makes sense!
There was indeed a war with Iron Men. Before the age of strife mankind got to the point that it could create technological wonders such as AI machines, there were called Iron Men. Basically humans believed they reached the pinnacle and relied on Iron Men to carry out all the work and care for their needs. The Iron Men eventually rose up and went to war with mankind and billions of lives were lost until they were destroyed. That apparently destroyed the galactic economy and broke down the pseudo-imperium into tiny systems rather than a galactic community. This is why… Read more »
wasan’t that Horus when he was in his coma on davin? that got chaos through the wards?
That was what I got from it but Dan Abnett (or the author, I think it was Abnett) said that was pure dream sequence, it wasn’t Horus, it was the gods.
Aj and Warren, good start to the Emperor lads,
may the force be with you and continue,
and nice add’ons from the comments listed above, did like the one asking for reading material.
i know Aj that would be pushing it abit…
so after listening to the first information coming out about the Emperor,
will we get the End of Times in 40k
as the Emperor is possibly the retuned God of Death…
AJ has to be the jolliest guy in the grim dark future of Warhammer 40k.
Really enjoying the show a lot.
Loving this series so far, always been a fan of the 40k background, and I’m learning something new every episode.
Yeah, there was a timeline in the old Rogue Trader 40k book. Inside cover on a blue page?
It was all heavily influenced by 1980s Dune with navigators, religious leaders, space emperors and anti-A.I. themes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7FcJwg6OkA
Nothing 1980’s about it all, is just the dune universe, without the turning into a sandworm bit. The butlerian jihad prequel trillogy deals with the anti ai stuff, its appallingly written (but no worse than most of black libraries offerings) but enjoyable none the less if you dont mind the tag team writing style of pinky and the brain.
Oh god yeah! I only read Dune for the first time a few weeks ago, and the whole emperor hearing the voices of the shamans is very much like the reverend mother parts when Jessica drinks the water. The Sardaukar being the Emperors fanatical elite troops etc, and especially the navigators! (If anyone says spoilers you can do one! The books 50 years old!) So much influence from that one set of novels!
• Modern Humans replace Neanderthals in Europe 40,000 years ago – ‘Reign of Man’
• First towns like Catal Huyuk appear in Anatolia 7,000 BC
• Shamans begin disappearing between reincarnations as warp entities start noticing and consuming human souls – shamans create the Star Child (Emperor)
– then Slaneesh awakes 30,000 AD – ‘Age of Strife’ ?
– I am sure they gave historical dates for the rise of Khorne – I think it was Bronze Age warfare or the Fall of Rome?
I mean Slaneesh awakes before 25,000 AD and Galactic reconquest in 30k?
– most of the explanations in the novels are given by factional characters so can be considered biased or ‘flawed narratives’ – means that authors can sorta do their own thing!
deaddave
“Excellent video guys! I’m hoping we get a massive injection of new fluff when Horus Heresy: Master of Mankind comes out.”
Why what is HH master of mankind? And I love this 40k series you have its getting me back into it, well 30k is what me and my mate are looking at. Thanks guys
Its a new book that’s currently being written by Aaron Dembski-Bowden about the Emperor.
Any chance you’ll be covering the “Dark Age of Technology” in a future episode.
The era that saw the height of mankind’s technological achievement, and the creation of the STC (Standard Template Construct).
A very informative video about the Emperor (it kinda revised my knowledge from if the Emperor had a text-to-speech device series ;-))
Could Merlin have been the emperor there is many stories that he may have been real & immortal?
Captain Garro was a pre spacemarine warrior one of the reasons that some of the death guard disliked him he was from earth/terran.
Great video keep them coming guys.
In any duiscussion about teh Emperor and his origins its important to remember that he isnt the only immortal super being running around the imperium of man. We also have the ‘Perpetuals” such as John Grammaticus and Damon Prytannis (Working for the Kabal albeit with growning levels of not wanting to) Oll Person, off on a mission for John Grammaticus agaist the designs of the Kabal and finally Alivia Sureka a female perpetual working for the Emperor apparently left behid on Moloch to guard/protect whatever incredible secret to the emperors power is located there. What exactly the Emperor did on… Read more »
Wait… What!? Never heard of that! That’s pretty interesting… Can you tell us more about that bit of lore?
Yeah, that’s another retcon from the black library. I dont think they were ever mentioned in old fluff but are a recent HH series addition. The only one out of that group who is in old fluff is Ollanius Persson, he is known as St Pius in the old fluff because he saves the Emperors life on the Vengeful Spirit I believe. Oll Persson got the nickname “Pious” because despite the emperor wiping out the old religions, he was a perpetual that kept his old beliefs and was a follower of the old Catheric religion (catholic).
That was a delicious slice of lore pie. Looking forward to the next piece guys. 😀
Although everyone seems to have enjoyed this episode I was horrified. I expected to come to the comment section and find a thousand people screaming out at the atrocities wrought here but only a couple have corrected this horrible mess – lotan2012 most notably set the record straight.
Unfortunately if this is someone’s introduction to 40K then they are going to be on the wrong track from the start…
This video needs to be pulled down and completely redone – it really is that atrociously, badly wrong.