[Editorial] The Primarchs - Then and Now Edition - Pt 1, The beginning

Once upon a time, the Emperor was to become a father, not to one child, nor two, but 20!

These children were not your average kids, they were made from his flesh and blood, literally. These were pretty much clones, they were built to represent the different aspects of war and we believe the Emperor himself!

The Emperor with 18 of his dearest children before they were cruelly whisked away.

Unfortunately, while the Primarchs (which his kids were lovingly called) were still in their gestation tubes a tragedy befell them and they were scattered throughout the universe, each happening to land on a human planet.

Some people believe that this was no accident and it is debated whether the Emperor or the Gods of Chaos planned this, both have their merits, and it is very possible that it was a mixture of chance and planning on both parts.

Some of the Primarchs were touched by Chaos at some point, two developing mutations like Sanguinius, and possibly Fulgrim (no-one is naturally that good looking). This is of course, unless the Emperor created his legendary children to be like this himself. However we do know that Magnus was touched by chaos, but not in an insidious way, they had a bit of a lovers tiff and Magnus subsequently lost his eye while battling the ancient god (or a Daemon Prince representing) Tzeentch. This battle was fought in the Warp where Magnus was using his “aetheric body of light” the wound although inflicted on his will and spirit translated to the real world and his eye had disappeared, with no evidence that one was ever there.

Over the following articles, I am going to take in in-depth (slightly tongue in cheek) look at the Primarchs and how their legions have coped since the Horus Heresy.

But firstly, let’s take a look at their dad. We know very little about him and there are a few good articles on Bell of Lost Souls taking an in depth and theological look at the Emperor and are very thought provoking, I hope my articles are of similar ideals. However, if you are a follower of the Lectitio Divinitatus please look away, this article and the articles to follow contain many heresies and blasphemies towards the Emperor.

The Emperor, he has been around for a while, and has a potent psychic aura. This aura actually stops many people being able to look upon him because of his “divine” beauty. 

The Emperor crusaded around Earth (also known as Terra) and extinguished the preachers and most devout followers of every religion on the planet. He believed that religion was the cause of separation between humanity and his goal to unit them under atheism could be said to have proven that it is, however, he also had a large army of Thunder Warriors. These Thunder Warriors were an early precursor to the Space Marines, and they were feared by all the Emperors enemies, these are a more likely factor for Terra to follow his rule, than because religion causes division.

After conquering the planet the Emperor turned his eyes to the stars and his first stop was Mars, where he took the form of the “Omnissiah” which is the Mechanicums idea of machine perfection. Here the Emperor had his fleets built and prepared the legions or Space Marines for the Great Crusade, each Legion was like the Emperors grandchildren, each built using a similar but simplified version of the Primarch project. The Space Marines were ordinary people who were “mutated” by and implant called the “Gene Seed” this was created from the DNA of their respective Primarch.

During/After the Horus Heresy, the Emperor has had very little impact on the Imperium, this is most likely because he is dead and his corpse and people suspect his soul is being sustained by the Golden Throne which requires thousands of Psyker sacrifices to keep it running. The biggest impact that the Emperor has had in the last ten thousand years is that the Lectitio Divinitatus is now renamed the Ecclesiarchy and is actually the leading religion among the populace of the galaxy. Without the Emperor to deny his divinity and peoples belief that he has ascended and now watches over the Imperium in spirit does not help stop the spread of the Imperial Religion.

It is quite ironic how the Emperor went on the Great Crusade to unite humanity under the Imperial Truth and they are now united under the Imperial Religion. We will look in depth about this later on the article for Horus and his downfall.

Next time, we shall look at the 1^st legion… The Dark Angels, and their Primarch Lion El’Johnson.