The Emperor of Mankind

Overview

The immortal psychic being who reunited Terra, launched the Great Crusade and created the Primarchs and the Space Marines. Mortally wounded in his duel with Horus, he has sat on the life-sustaining Golden Throne for ten thousand years, worshipped as a god by the Imperium he founded, although in life he rejected all religion.

He is the most powerful psyker humanity has ever produced, and his psychic presence powers the Astronomican, the beacon that makes Warp navigation possible across the Imperium. Each day, thousands of psykers are sacrificed to sustain him. To his worshippers he is the God-Emperor; to the forces of Chaos he is the Corpse-God, the hated enemy of the Pantheon. Within the Imperium he is the God-Emperor, the centre of the Imperial Cult. He himself rejected worship and promoted the Imperial Truth, a secular creed that denied all gods, and the irony of his deification runs through the whole setting. His body is a withered husk sustained by the Golden Throne, and each day a thousand psykers are sacrificed to fuel the Astronomican, the psychic beacon he projects. Without it, Warp travel across the Imperium would collapse.

Origins

His true origins are deliberately obscure. Official lore describes him as a perpetual who lived hidden through human history before emerging to end the anarchy of Old Night. He conquered Terra in the Unification Wars, then allied with the Mechanicum of Mars to build the forces of the Great Crusade.

In the Unification Wars he led his Thunder Warriors to conquer Terra's warring techno-barbarian states, then replaced them with the Legiones Astartes. The Treaty of Olympus bound Mars and its Mechanicum to his cause. His secret project in the Imperial Webway beneath the Palace, ruined when Magnus breached it, was meant to free humanity from dependence on the Warp.

Key events

1. Unified Terra and forged the Treaty of Olympus with Mars, gaining the Mechanicum's industry.
2. Created twenty Primarchs, who were scattered across the galaxy by the Chaos Gods while infants, and rediscovered them during the Great Crusade.
3. Withdrew to Terra to work on a secret Webway project, leaving Horus as Warmaster. Magnus's warning breached it, which contributed to the Heresy.
4. Faced Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit during the Siege of Terra and destroyed him, but was left near death and was interred in the Golden Throne.
5. In the Era Indomitus, Guilliman stood before him in the Throne Room, and the Emperor's power has appeared to manifest through his son and through Living Saints.

Battles & campaigns

• Unification Wars: He conquered the warring techno-barbarian empires of Old Night Terra, using his Thunder Warriors, and later the first Legiones Astartes, to unite the planet under one rule.
• Ullanor Crusade: Alongside Horus he crushed the Ork empire of Urlakk Urg. Afterwards, at the Ullanor Triumph, he named Horus Warmaster and withdrew to Terra.
• Battle of the Imperial Webway: When Magnus's warning broke the wards of his secret webway project, he took the Golden Throne himself to hold back the daemonic tide. That is why he did not lead the war against Horus.
• Final duel aboard the Vengeful Spirit: He teleported onto Horus's flagship with his closest companions, found Sanguinius already dead, and destroyed Horus in a duel that left him mortally wounded.

Personality

He is portrayed as a visionary of terrible pragmatism: charismatic and brilliant, but distant, secretive and willing to treat even his sons as tools. Whether he still has a mind or will in the present day is deliberately left ambiguous.

Accounts that survive show him as a figure of vast ambition who kept his true plans from almost everyone, including his own sons. He rejected the idea of gods and sought to build an empire of reason, even as he used psychic powers no ordinary human could imagine. His secrecy is often seen as a cause of the Heresy.

Weapons & Vehicles

The Emperor's SwordRelic Weapon

The flaming golden greatsword of the Emperor of Mankind, forged through lost science and psychic mastery, now wielded by resurrected Pr…

Bolter & Bolt RifleRanged Weapon

The signature .75-calibre rocket-propelled mass-reactive firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, firing self-propelled explosive bolts that de…

Power FistMelee Weapon

An oversized servo-assisted armoured gauntlet sheathed in a matter-shredding energy field, capable of tearing open tank hulls and crush…

Land RaiderVehicles · Unit

The Space Marines' most revered battle tank and heavy transport, built from an ancient STC design and guided by a proud machine spirit.

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (21)

• 
  Constantin Valdor creator · Adeptus Custodes

  The Emperor created Valdor as the first and greatest of the Custodians.

• 
  Malcador the Sigillite ally · Imperium of Man

  Malcador the Sigillite was the Emperor's oldest confidant and served as Regent of Terra.

• 
  Saint Celestine revered by · Adepta Sororitas

  Celestine is venerated as a Living Saint and an emissary of the God-Emperor.

• 
  Corax creator · Raven Guard

  After the Heresy Corax sought to rebuild his Legion with gene-tech the Emperor had entrusted to him.

• 
  Ferrus Manus creator · Iron Hands

  Ferrus Manus was found on Medusa during the Great Crusade.

• 
  Jaghatai Khan creator · White Scars

  The Khan was rediscovered on Chogoris during the Great Crusade.

• 
  Leman Russ creator · Space Wolves

  Russ served as the Emperor's executioner, sent against Magnus at Prospero.

• 
  Lion El'Jonson creator · Dark Angels

  The Lion was the first Primarch to be reunited with the Emperor.

• 
  Roboute Guilliman creator · Ultramarines

  Father of the Primarchs; Guilliman now rules as Lord Regent in his name.

• 
  Rogal Dorn creator · Imperial Fists

  Dorn was entrusted with fortifying and defending the Imperial Palace.

• 
  Sanguinius creator · Blood Angels

  Sanguinius died defending his father aboard Horus's flagship.

• 
  Vulkan creator · Salamanders

  Vulkan was found on Nocturne, where he defeated the Emperor in a contest of skill.

• 
  Alpharius Omegon creator · Alpha Legion

  The twin Primarch of the Alpha Legion; the details of their discovery are deliberately confused.

• 
  Angron creator · World Eaters

  The Emperor took Angron from Nuceria before he could die alongside his fellow gladiators, which Angron never forgave.

• 
  Fulgrim creator · Emperor's Children

  Fulgrim once strove for perfection in the Emperor's service before falling to Slaanesh.

• 
  Horus Lupercal enemy · Black Legion

  Horus, once his favoured son and Warmaster, rebelled and mortally wounded him aboard the Vengeful Spirit.

• 
  Konrad Curze creator · Night Lords

  Curze was brought from Nostramo, where he had ruled through terror as the Night Haunter.

• 
  Lorgar Aurelian enemy · Word Bearers

  The Emperor rebuked Lorgar's worship at Monarchia, setting him on the path to Chaos.

• 
  Magnus the Red enemy · Thousand Sons

  Magnus's sorcerous warning shattered the Emperor's secret webway project, leading to the Burning of Prospero.

• 
  Mortarion creator · Death Guard

  Mortarion resented the Emperor for intervening in his war against Barbarus's overlords.

• 
  Perturabo creator · Iron Warriors

  Perturabo felt his father undervalued him and the Iron Warriors.

Factions

• Imperium of Man primary faction

Related units (9)

Custodian GuardCustodian WardensSisters of SilenceCallidus AssassinCulexus AssassinEversor AssassinVindicare AssassinLegion of the DamnedGrey Knights Strike Squad

Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.

Legacy

The Emperor's legacy is the Imperium itself, a realm he never intended to become a theocracy and which now worships him as a god. Every Primarch, Legion and Chapter, and much of the Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy, traces its existence to his choices. Whether he still acts with purpose from the Throne or is a dying husk sustained by sacrifice is one of the great open questions of the setting. His legacy is everywhere and contradictory. The Imperial Cult, the Astronomican, the Adeptus Custodes and the Space Marines all trace back to him. Yet the Imperium that now worships him has become everything his secular vision rejected.

Appearances & sources

• The Horus Heresy and Siege of Terra novel series (Black Library), including The Master of Mankind and The End and the Death
• Codex: Space Marines and Codex: Adeptus Custodes, across several editions
• Imperium-wide background in the Warhammer 40,000 core rulebooks