heres mine the warp is a plane of mind inside of the emperor's mind its at war with itself from the mortal wound horus gave him and everyone that dies goes to that eternal battle as the emperor regenerates upon the golden throne, when he wakes up its all cuput
The Imperium's Big Lies?
heirodule said:
I was wondering if anyone was using the idea that some of the expected truths of the imperium have no factual basis, or a different factual basis than expected. Everybody thinks X, but actually Y is the truth.
The emperor isn't actually dead, he's in hiding on some backwater world.
HERETIC!!! The emperor is ever living benign ruler of the world. He keeps us safe in our homes and in space. He protects us from the evil that is in lies. The emperor is neither dead nor hiding!
Actually, I'm now going to have to put my group in a situation where they can stop a Tyrannid fleet, or a poweful meta-coven of Chaos that are fighting a secret war against both the Tyrannid and the Necron (secret because they don't want the Imperium to feel less threatend). If they stop one, the other is free to progress their plans, and if they stop neither the battle will spill over into the entire sub-sector.
I also love the ideas I got from the recent novel "Legion", if you've read it than you know what I mean, and if you haven't I won't spoil it for you. Short version: Alpha Legion is awesome.
My PCs (out of character, of course) like to call the emperor the "Dead Athiest in a Box", and assume the whole thing is built on a lie, so I can't really pull that rug out from under them.
Aureus said:
My PCs (out of character, of course) like to call the emperor the "Dead Athiest in a Box", and assume the whole thing is built on a lie, so I can't really pull that rug out from under them.
Oh, but you can pull the rug they're standing on out from under them -you can make it all true. ;-)
The Squats weren't eaten by tyranids- it was a genocidal power play by the Mechanicum to try and maintain their monopoly on advanced tech.
Zoats were not a tyranid subspecies, nor were they the only race to escape the Hive Mind once engulfed- they were mercenaries hired by anyone with the credits for their intimidating looks and ability to carry and fire missile launchers like carbines.
Fimir existed.
Jokaero are actually uplifted orang-utans.
Vaeron said:
How about something nice and heretical, like: Far from protecting humanity, the Emperor's warp beacon is actually what forces of Chaos follow to find their way out of the Warp and into reality? Chaos might not be able to find humanity at all, if it weren't for that great neon sign flashing "Over here!"
Or that the Emperor is actually being held *prisoner* on the Golden Throne.
I think the Temple Tendency from Disciples of the Dark Gods presents a great tool for illuminating "Lies of the Imperium," since they're bad guys with actual historical truth on their side. We're all heretics, here!
Nothing like a good conspiracy to have some poor acolyte questioning everything they've ever heard.
Vaeron said:
Or that the Emperor is actually being held *prisoner* on the Golden Throne.
This works quite well, with him being Prisoner.
The High Lords currently have ALOT of power, people with power very rarely like to give it up, so they keep him prisoner.
If the Emperor was to return, the Ecclesiarch would loose all of it's power, this puts them in the same boat as the High Lords.
Then you have the Amalathians who believe that by keeping the Status Quo they help in the progress of the Emperors "Grand Design". So inadvertently they are guiding the boat that the above are in.
Graver said:
Oh, but you can pull the rug they're standing on out from under them -you can make it all true. ;-)
Nah, they'd see that coming. Instead I've built up a very interesting conspiracy that's got them seeing scheming factional conflict and manipulation everywhere they go. Quote from last night's game:
Red Redemption Cleric: "What pisses me off is that I know, I'm dead certain, that in investigating and destroying this heresy I'm doing Chaos' work... and there's nothing I can do. We literally got a call saying 'We have a heretic and a proscribed text in lockup, please pick them up and investigate', what am I going to say 'No that's cool, they can go...'? It's a Honey Pot scheme and all we can do is walk right into whatever they want us to see, learn, or do..."
I've given them more or less total freedom of choice, but they have become convinced that whatever they do is "what the enemy wants them to do". It's pretty awesome.