the Emperor was held in Place in a state between Life and death, by traitors in the High Lords of Terra. So they can stay in Power without him intervening.
Just imagine this for a second.

If someone would destroy the Golden Throne and thus release the God-Emperor.
What do you Think would happen/change?

Jack Harkness would regenerate! =3

As with every other thread of this nature, the most grimdark answer games workshop could provide.

1. Empeor becomes full fledged warp entity known as the Starchild.

2. Light of the Astronomican would go out.

3. Possible breach in the palace dungeon, flooding the palace with daemons.

Or maybe he'd reincarnate into a younger version and we'd get this.

the Emperor was held in Place in a state between Life and death, by traitors in the High Lords of Terra.

If you've never read the sourcebooks from GW's Inquisitor game, you may be in for a treat.

If someone would destroy the Golden Throne and thus release the God-Emperor.

What do you Think would happen/change?

I don't think there is a single right answer to this question, but personally I favour the resurrectionist theory. In a dramatic sense it fits neatly into the setting's Grimdark™, reminding us that humans are their own worst enemy whilst simultaneously providing the faintest glimmer of hope.

However, I don't believe he would just pop back into existence the way everyone in the setting imagines him, but instead be born a normal child to normal parents. A second Jesus, if you will. The irony of the situation obviously being that his* own empire would be the worst threat to his existence, for being a psyker would make him eligible for Black Ship collection. Perhaps he manages to hide and turn into some sort of local saint, surviving long enough for an Inquisitor to recognise his value as a vessel and pick him up? He would not remember anything at first, instead growing up like a normal man and subjected to all the cruelties the Imperium has to offer. But perhaps over time he would regain memories of his former life, slowly at first, just dreams and visions, growing more concrete as time passes by and he starts to feel a compulsion to visit certain places he's been before.

My other two theories are that discarding the link to his physical body would result in either a "final ascension" into the Immaterium and the birth of a new Warp God whose identity is shaped not by their former life, but by the thoughts and beliefs of those who empower him (similar to the Chaos Gods), or all that psychic energy that was once artificially merged into a single person splinters up again and what we see being reincarnated will be a hundred shamans / "mini-Emperors". But I like the first idea more.

Either way, the Golden Throne failing and the Astronomican being snuffed out would come with a bunch of obvious drawbacks for the Imperium as a whole. I could imagine a really cool "Hundred Years Darkness" campaign where the IoM totally breaks down and has to rely on the earliest form of short range Warp jumps again, with most worlds being left to fend for themselves whilst the Emperor takes their time to be reborn - then a phase of civil war where the reborn Emperor uses the ongoing strife to claim a homebase for their operations and finally launching a second Great Crusade, powered by a new Astronomican and maybe version 3.0 of the Space Marines.

*: or her, I suppose. would be an interesting twist that would further cloud their identity and make it even harder to believe that this is the Emperor Reborn

My other two theories are that discarding the link to his physical body would result in either a "final ascension" into the Immaterium and the birth of a new Warp God whose identity is shaped not by their former life, but by the thoughts and beliefs of those who empower him (similar to the Chaos Gods), or all that psychic energy that was once artificially merged into a single person splinters up again and what we see being reincarnated will be a hundred shamans / "mini-Emperors". But I like the first idea more.

That'd be interesting. He disperses back into the amount of shamans that sacrificed themselves to create him in the first place.

He disperses back into the amount of shamans that sacrificed themselves to create him in the first place.

And maybe it has already started as the Emperor has long since begun to "bleed" psychic potential into the Warp, his soul being fractured and torn apart by the pull of the Empyrean and the malfunctioning anchor of the Golden Throne - and that is why the Astronomican grows dimmer with every day ...

... who knows how many saints (or heretics!) actually have a small part of Emperor inside them.

Perhaps each martyrdom is another step in the sacrifice required for the resurrection of the Emperor?

Blood for the Bl- .. Emperor!

... but ****, the more I think about it, the more I like that idea. An ancient god, whose essence now rests with a million of his followers who valiantly fight for the survival of Mankind. And before he can be reborn, every single one of them must die.

*drama intensifies*

[edit] On a sidenote, this actually makes a neat "crazy belief" for a Death Cult targetting Imperial heroes and saying sorry before they slit their throats.

... but ****, the more I think about it, the more I like that idea. An ancient god, whose essence now rests with a million of his followers who valiantly fight for the survival of Mankind. And before he can be reborn, every single one of them must die.

Well it IS 40K. Getting people killed isn't that hard.

But yeah I also like that idea.

Living saint: "What are you do-get off me! Traitor!"

Loyal assassin: "I'm no traitor, My lord. You must be made whole again!"

*flashes of light as chaos marines teleport on the scene*

Thousand sons sorceror: "Stop the assassin! The Saint Cannot die! I have forseen it!"

*sorecer takes boltround to the head*

Alpha legion space marine: "For the Emperor!" *Shoots the saint in the head.*

Assassin: "It is done then."

AL: "yes."

And from the mounth of the dead saint rises the sound of thousands of voices who speak as one:

"I AM REBORN"

Well it IS 40K. Getting people killed isn't that hard.

Depends on the writer / amount of plot armour ...

Of course, for a proper samurai-style drama, the hero must live long enough to be confronted with the fact of their death being part of his or her duty.

Only in death does duty end.

**** samurai. Dying in service of your lord = best. death. Ever.

Altough i have heard of one samuray holding of the enemy even after he died.

Tough severly wounded this guy managed to remain standing while his enemies retreated to a safe distance. The lone samurai just stood there silently and umoving. And by the time the enemy had worked up enough courage to attack again, they found he had died from his wounds. Modern theory sugesst the enourmous amounts of lactic acid that had built up in his muscles from the fighting had caused them to lock up and alowed him to remain standing even in death.

... and that's why I play Draconis Combine in Battletech.

Kodeneta banzai!

I'll pick the clans. Not because they are a bunch of proud warrior caste guys, but because they got names that are awesome and insane.

Smoke Jaguar, Fire Mandril, and my fave: Diamond Shark!

Only in death does duty end.

**** samurai. Dying in service of your lord = best. death. Ever.

Altough i have heard of one samuray holding of the enemy even after he died.

Tough severly wounded this guy managed to remain standing while his enemies retreated to a safe distance. The lone samurai just stood there silently and umoving. And by the time the enemy had worked up enough courage to attack again, they found he had died from his wounds. Modern theory sugesst the enourmous amounts of lactic acid that had built up in his muscles from the fighting had caused them to lock up and alowed him to remain standing even in death.

You're thinking of Musashibo Benkei. Such a death would be the dream of any Space Marine

Musashibo Benkei

Thanks for dropping that name - I have never heard of that story so far, but after a quick visit to google-san, I can say it made for an interesting read.

I've been dabbling in Japanese feudal history and culture as part of my background research for roleplaying in Battletech (and a general fascination with samurai and samurai stories/movies), so I appreciate this addition to my memory.

(come to think of it, "Benkei" might be a fine name for my BLR-1G)

Benkei is a good name.

Its also the name of the third pilot of Getter Robo G.

Getter Robo G.

... when I was very young I had a half-plastic, half-metal toy robot. And for almost 20 years I believed it was a generic design.

Until today.

Also, hah @ the theme song.

And this is why i don't bother staying on topic. Eventualy good things will come of it.

Yeah it's one of my all time fave anime theme songs. Even better live !

the Emperor was held in Place in a state between Life and death, by traitors in the High Lords of Terra. So they can stay in Power without him intervening.

Just imagine this for a second.

If someone would destroy the Golden Throne and thus release the God-Emperor.

What do you Think would happen/change?

The Imperium would fall apart. There would be a new Great Crusade - erupting from the Eye of Terror, to reclaim what was lost 10,000 years ago. Not a tiny Black Crusade - but all of the Eye coming together to burn their way to 'holy' Terra.

Not a tiny Black Crusade - but all of the Eye coming together to burn their way to 'holy' Terra.

Reminds me of Anastasia's vision in her background for GW's Inquisitor game. And I would not call the 13th Black Crusade "tiny" ... the thing to remember is that "all of the Eye" is not very mobile, much like it's impossible for the Imperium to mobilise all its population as soldiers. There simply aren't enough ships to transport all the Chaos devotees, not to mention the constant attrition from infighting and lack of proper equipment. It's a miracle there are still as many CSM as there are, after all those millennia. The very nature of Chaos may produce some few exceptional warriors, but does not lend itself well to an organised war effort, especially if it's stretched out across 10,000 years.

I blame failbaddon. 13 crusades- still not past Cadia! Seriously! How do you fail with the planet killer and two blackstone fortresses? (okay those got nicked, but still.)

It all comes down to if the chaos gods realy want to or not. Like what's happening to the warhammer world. The gods are done screwing around and have teamed up. Now the Old world is wrecked and Nagarond is completly depopulated after Khorne sent his waifu Valkia-the-bloody and an army of daemons over there.

Technically, the 13th Black Crusade is not over - they stopped the clock just as things would get decisive. I also recall the material hinting at the previous Black Crusades just being preparatory strikes.

But as you said, the Chaos Gods may not actually want Horus & Co. to win, as the conflict with the Imperium provides them with far more sustenance than they could get out of a galaxy where humans reduce themselves to 1% of their former population, mostly living in the ruins of former civilisation after an orgy of bloodshed. It's all about the balance.