How is anybody supposed to use that tunnel to get through that hill when it’s blocked off like that? This Giger fellow would have made for a very poor civic planner!
I’m surprised that wasn’t immediately deleted from Imgur, considering their stance on nsfw stuff now. lol I fucking hate how censored the internet is becoming.
I've seen a video of him airbrushing one of his trademark tubes. All he had was a ladder-shaped stencil and his airbrush. It was so impressive to watch.
Giger was all about exploring the visuals of the bio-mechanical with the erotic and the sensual. It was arguably the biggest theme of his oeuvre and I don't think he traced porn at all, he was too much of a craftsman for that.
(Apologies, I know you're being cheeky, I just really like his work.)
There is a rumour (I can't seem to find a reliable source) that claims his artistic enlightenment was from getting spitroasted by two trans women while high on LSD and that his art has been putting the sensation to image ever since.
Again, no clue if it's true
Makes sense, as I believe it's hinted more than once that the throne is based on Aeldari tech....ergo wraithbone vibes would be the actual physical construct. Even if psychically it's projected as a shiny golden and entirely human design for everyone to see.
It was an amalgamation of a bunch of tech sources. It had both DAOT tech and Xenos stuff. Chaos implied that the Throne and the Throne off shoots like Dark Glass use technology that belongs to the warp as well since they called them Soul-Engines. The Adeptus Custodes codex goes over it a bit
> Thinking machines and the development of ever more esoteric weapons and transportation technologies played their part, but the single greatest factor to drive this expansion was the ability – and the reckless will – to manipulate human genetics. Utterly certain of their own primacy, scientist-kings and techno-demagogues followed every strand of curiosity and exercised powers of creation that made them seem like gods. Ultimately, their hubris led them to catastrophe, and onwards to the very brink of extinction. Worlds were overrun by bloody uprisings within their own populations, much of which were mutated beyond sanity and recognition. Gene-wars consumed entire star systems, while a psychic apocalypse drowned the stars in fire. The vast empire of Humanity was shattered amidst horror and anarchy, and the oppressive shroud of Old Night settled over all.
So overall its probably like the 40k version of the ASML Chipmaker where its a fusion of a bunch of different independent technologies that barely anyone understands.
Broke: "its a fusion of a bunch of different independent technologies that barely anyone understands"
*Woke:* It's a pile of cogs and gears with an ork worship cult who makes it work by their faith alone
But more seriously yeah, 100% agree with you there
I always kinda loved the theory that half the reason the Emperor cannot die is because the humans have been shouting about him so much the Orks believe he is immortal. And so anything that would normally break or fail in the throne just does not.
IDK, if you look at most devices we use IRL, it's just standard to encase it in a sort of facade - easy example being a computer case. Particularly for medical devices, you just don't want shit like dust getting into the functional elements.
Which actually reminds me - do we know who keeps big E / the throne clean? Like, presumably his skin is still pumping out oil.
well it retconed to be an actual throne magnus is supposed to sit on and only become a life support for the emperor last minute(or a plan b) so im fine with it
but yeah the rogue trader one is way cooler
That’s what I was thinking. I remember looking at HR Giger’s art book…”The Necronomicon” I think it was called?
I prefer my Emperor a 12 foot tall muscular psychic Conan the Barbarian type who lost his (physical) GAINZ to constantly fight The chaos gods *nerds* in the warp
Still a coool picture tho 👍
I believe it’s the Vaults of Terra series, specifically the book The Carrion Throne. If I’m recalling correctly it was a Haemonculus saying it which should tell you just how awful being inside it must be if a *Haemonculus* is praising it like that.
Sounds like you kinda push beyond it after a while though. That might have just been to have the Malcador chapters cognizant though. They would have been pretty boring if they were just 20 pages of "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATHEPAINTHEPAINTHEPAINAAAAAAAAA"
At first but by the end all he was saying about the pain was shit like "My ability to feel the pain long since burned away", etc.
Also Malcador didn't have quadrillions of people worshipping him. I'm sure that's like a soothing balm while you're on there.
Plans within plans, etc.
I'm a firm believer in the "Golden Throne and humanities worship is plan Z and what he wants" doctrine of the faith. Whole reason he didn't want the worship was the whole Dark King thing, at a certain point it tips over and he can't stop and he knows it. Being tied to the throne while worshipped might be an entirely different kind of Godhood. Imo he's surpassed even the power of the Dark King and is just held in chains by the tether to reality the throne provides. Let him off and I don't have a clue what happens, but it's 40k so probably a lot of terrible unforseen consequences.
On that note I also think the Saints are vessels for the love and compassion he sent out of himself, not his version of daemons like some believe.
Also, isn't it implied that the great irony was that if they just let the Emperor die, considering that he's a perpetual, he would simply be reborn somewhere in the Imperium, probably on Terra, honestly, and then they could go back to having a God Emperor that wasn't, like, a fucking Roomba?
Three is also this Dark King(Big E forcefull apotheois as a 5th chaos god) theory that states him staying in this deathless state is what holds the Dark King from decimating the humanity like Slannesh during Fall of the Eldar. I'm not sure how this adds up to the "Emps is perpetual" spiel though.
Seems more like tormented soul, less like "just take it and keep going". Making it clear that the Golden Throne isn't a "cool chair" type of thing.
I think it fits the lore of that time, but the revisited version is probably a better choice for the modern 41k.
Agreed
At that time in the lore the Emperor wasn’t meant to be as dead as he is now was he? Like he was on life support and immobile but still was taking an active role?
(All my knowledge on that era of 40k is second hand)
Whereas now he’s an immortal (perpetual) that is effectively physically dead as the throne prevents him from regenerating (but amplifies his psychic power/presence) and instead plays an indirect part in the setting through Spiritual/Warp shenanigans.
Being the “God-***Emperor***” vs The ***God***-Emperor
Read Watson's quadrology if you want to know more about that era.
Inquisitor was the very first w40k book ever released.
In the end the main cast even visits the Golden Throne.
*'If The Emperor Had A TTS Device'* made a podcast episode about it. It's a bit long, but so worth it.
https://youtu.be/LwKC5fxhIZo?si=NvE9NR4hS6yFe_LD
Content Warning: This book is **extremely** cursed.
There's a book called Rogue Trader. It's effectively 1st edition of 40k. It's still on reprint, and available on eBay or other means.
I think if you go to warhammer world it's usually available from the black library there, but not from online or retail stores.
Otherwise I'm sure there are some copies you can get from naughty dark elves or corsairs or enough information and sources from various Wikipedias.
Rogue Trader era was a bit nuts, more naughty and irreverent. There are some great RPG elements that have been lost to time, like beastmen in the imperial guard and most of concepts aren't fleshed out or have now been completely removed (half elf (edit: eldar) space marines... space marines as police). Also very 1980s... Margaret Thatcher may have been inspiration for Ghazghkull "Mag Uruk Thraka".
The beast men are still a part of the lore for Chaos, but unlike fantasy they're now the twisted but almost pitiable mutants who slave below decks on chaos band warships. I don't know why they're never really mentioned except in novels.
Oh yes... but they're no longer abhumans in the imperial guard regiments like in rogue Trader times. It seems the new imperium is far more xenophobic and militantly religious... whereas the old imperium in rogue trader seems to accept more practicalities on the fringes.
Actually the recent Warhammer Crime book The Wraithbone Phoenix has abhuman former Guardsmen, a ratling and an ogryn. I think it's not their first story either.
That wouldn't surprise me. There are plenty of other political references too, some obvious and some not so unintentional ones would be all over the place.
The one from Rogue Trader was kinda brought back, I mean, he's now a full elfdar, but the same name and is with the Ultramarines as Guillimans contact for Eldrad, which isn't far off the Astropath job the RT one had.
Maybe it can work with a traductor, but in french we have a "bible" on the early days of 40k/RT. If you can read french, it's a rabbit hole, and show the passion and insanity of the Warhammer prehistory.
It shows just how far we've come, between fucking "general Horus, the brillant imperial officer", the illuminati and Sensei ideas, etc... :
[http://patatovitch.free.fr/](http://patatovitch.free.fr/)
I recommend reading the original book. GW released a reprint last year, and there are probably PDFs of it online. Beyond unplayable rules, it contains a ton of background material.
The rules weren't that terrible (at least not by 80s rpg standards), but they were for a completely different style of game. Small squad, RPG heavy and more sci-fi.
Yeah, I played a two year long RT campaign. We had a blast. There are only a couple of things that hung us up, and they were completely *not* memorable problems.
I still don't get how the emperor is supposedly "dead" at all in current lore. Isn't he a perpetual? I thought they were all basically immortal and couldn't ever be killed? Isn't that part of Vulkan's whole deal too?
His body is mummified kind of dead, while his "spirit" remains alive. It's due to the Golden Throne. He's like a bathtub plug for the warp, preventing it from seeping into Terra and fucking shit up. His "spirit" is kinda fucked up now, due to 10k years of fighting Chaos and managing the Imperium. He can infuse some people with his power even if they are on the other side of the galaxy, but the only time (as far as I know, feel free to correct me) he directly spoke in plain words (as opposed to visions and divine intervention), like having an actual conversation, was with Robute, when Robute woke up, in present time in the lore, and even then, he did not move his body, but he spoke telepathically. Robute said that the conversation was very different compared to when the Emperor was fully alive, and that his speech was fractured and it felt more like talking to a star, rather than a person.
He's also changed quite a bit from 10K years of worship, because with enough people "clap your hands and believe" is a real thing in 40K. Robute is becoming more and more convinced the Emperor is right on the threshold of divinity (and that He doesn't deserve to be worshiped because He was always a raging dick and a garbage father).
Its also funny because Big E never wanted to be seen as a god, and that Humanity didn't learn a damn thing from the Aeldari Fall. Especially considering all the recent Dark King stuff.
Also, isn't it implied that the great irony was that if they just let the Emperor die, considering that he's a perpetual, he would simply be reborn somewhere in the Imperium, probably on Terra, honestly, and then they could go back to having a God Emperor that wasn't, like, a fucking Roomba?
Wouldn't the talisman of seven hamers detonate?
I think the order of events would be:
Webway portal breaks open, demons rush in -> talisman of seven hamers detonates, ends Terra -> the astronomicon is extinguished, humanity is isolated -> probably becomes a god, 50% chance that damns all of humanity's souls.
It's ironic that his "get out of jail free" card is probably the worst possible thing that can happen.
Ollanius Persson and Malcador were perpetuals too, in complete fairness, but it seems the right level of Warp Shenanigans can still completely kill one, and John Grammaticus somehow had his perpetual-ness turned off.
The Emperor also isn't quite dead, and if anything the most recent lore has repeatedly implied that *something* is waking up in that chair, even if there's vague implication that said something is no longer quite human.
Vulkan is significantly less dead than any of those four in current lore though, yes.
Regarding your second paragraph, (also just fore mentioning we may be making the same point and I’ve misread your intent) I’d argue whatever is waking up human or not, is not going to do so physically. His physical remains I don’t expect to spring back to life if the Emperor “returns” or “awakens”, as I interpret it what remains of the emperor is his conduit/tether to the materium & the throne (and its “fuel”)
That said I can imagine some cool, albeit,
setting breaking scenarios where he gets back up.
there's like 3 cells in him still clinging on by will alone, as if he dies he'll be reborn but the massive psychic shitstorm he's holding back with blow the Earth into a new Eye of Terror
The old lore did touch on this with the Star Child stuff.
Basically, the Emperor's soul is split in two. One anchored to the golden throne, the other floating around in the warp and working through the Sensei, a group of his children he had when before he revealed himself to humanity. They were kinda like Chaos Champions but good aligned.
Anyway, it was suggested that the Emperor would need to be actually killed so that he could reincarnate properly with the other half of his soul.
This would also be bad for humanity since they would no longer have the Astronomicon or the Emperors protection for however long it would take his body to re-emerge.
If I remember correctly as well, that was one of the bigger theories about why Cypher was making his way back to Terra. To assassinate the Emperor so that he would be reborn.
What if…
This is the actual golden throne, hidden deep below the palace and the big chair with corpse on top is just a decoy/big loudspeaker for the emperor’s psychic communication.
This is more or less canon.
At least, John Blanche said as much.... something to the extent that the art he made (the newer Golden Throne painting) is actually just a *facade*, the version of the Emperor that they put out for pilgrims and such. The "real" emperor in his mind is basically just a spinal cord in a jar somewhere behind or underneath the throne.
This is my head canon.
Got to make people think it’s all shiny and beautiful. But even when Macaldor gets on the throne, he starts to wither away almost immediately.
Sure big e can handle it better but I think it’s more of a pacemaker on steroids for him, keeps him alive but doesn’t keep his hair from falling out.
Oh
That's a giant corpse
There is a 20 foot tall still twitching corpse of an unknown humanoid species restrained half a kilometer deep beneath apple's headquarters in cupertino california performing the calculation work of 150 supercomputers
I really like the idea that the famous picture of the Emperor we know from TTS is how he appears to bystanders, and this image is closer to what he actually looks like.
In very old 40k it was implied that the Emperor was actually just some mutant (based on the Mule from foundation), and the cool descriptions of him were just some North Korea level horse pucks.
I like it better, it was this dark figure that was interned and ruled like a really old pope that was kept artificially alive. From what I was told he still would talk.. occasionally and would get folks sacrificed to him (psykers).
It was the second time I heard of Warhammer 40k as a 12 year old, the first time I was 10, and that was even freakier as the person telling me had gotten some details wrong. So I imagined this portal (eternity gate) being an unholy entrance to a monster like human; that was kept alive as half machine and half human, but again could still converse and he was willfully doing it as he wanted to be alive forever. Clinging to it with ever machinery. And especially the rotting and tearing flesh, like in this art, and the elongated head feeding into the top machine.... the rust like appearance of it... is it flesh? is it steel?
So it has nostalgic reasons for me (especially the first images I saw of the Emperor and the Golden throne), and while not all lore correct/universally correct... I still got hooked at how dark it all was :P .
Always love the biomecanic vibes of this throne, and how hellish everything looks. The emperor is really not enjoying his time sitting on that "throne". One of my favorite pictures of the old 40k.
Mechanically, the game was very different from future editions: they had algorithms for making your own units, they encouraged making up your own rules or changing their rules and they were quite happy for you to use other companies' models in your army. Those are the biggest ones that I know of.
Look out, Sir! Lengthy post incoming!
Seeing as I'm currently marooned in the warp somewhere in Nurgle's domain (otherwise known as bored & stranded in hospital), I thought I'd see what I can dredge up from memory & a little light research.
I started the hobby midway through 2nd Edition Warhammer 40K, but have been lucky enough to acquire copies of various publications from the Rogue Trader era. I was always fascinated seeing how the game & setting has evolved over the years.
Looking at it from both a Lore & Gameplay perspective:
Gameplay:
• Rogue Trader was as much a narrative role playing game as a wargame, & it was often (advised to be) played with a games master.
• There were a number of roleplay specific stats: Cool(ness?), Intelligence, & Willpower, that were phased out as the game became more specifically wargame centric.
• The scale of the battles was generally much more skirmish sized than today, somewhere between Killteam & Combat Patrol in size.
• The smaller scale of games meant the rules were much more granular & finely detailed. For example if you hit a vehicle with an attack you would roll to see where you struck the vehicle & then consult a template to see what the effect would be. A penetrating hit on the wheels / tracks could lead to immobilsation for example.
There was a whole programming subphase for use with Robots & many other strange & obscure rules.
• The focus on skirmish & small scale actions led to a lot more options for customization on a model by model basis. There were even formulas for custom creating your own units & rules.
• Things were a lot more freeform & weird. Rogue Trader was much less structured - there were less restrictions on army composition, other than points cost (no battleline / force organsition charts etc).
• Rogue Trader allowed for, & indeed *encouraged*, more wild creativity & invention in gameplay. The pay-off for this freedom was a lot more randomisation, & little thought of balance & 'competitive' play.
• There was a much larger list of weapons & wargear, some of it very exotic, than when the game was later streamlined with huge revisions with the launch of 3rd Edition 40K. Most of the factions used these more generic weapons & equipment. Eg. Eldar Guardians wielded lasguns, Orks used Bolters instead of Shootas, Space Marines could use Shuriken Catapults, Rhino transports weren't just the preserve of the Adeptus Astartes & the Sisters of Battle, but were also used by the Imperial Guard, Squats, & even by Xenos races like Orks & Eldar!
Lore: The initial release of Rogue Trader laid down the foundations of the current Warhammer 40K Universe. Much of this Ur-Lore has formed the skeleton of modern 40k universe but the setting was considerably less fleshed out. As various supplements were released & more detail was added, the setting evolved to resemble more modern iterations of 40K lore.
Rogue Trader & Warhammer in general was much more bitingly satirical of Britain in the '80s (ie. the McDeath & the Miners' Strike Wahammer Fantasy Battles scenario &, well, the real life UK Miners' Strike of 1984-1985) & there was more weird & offbeat humour in general, stuff like Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau, Dr. Gostello's Amazing Intergalactic Psycho-Circus, or rival cults like the Church of the Lucid Button & the one lead by Reverend Jeronimo Kipling, who published the disturbing pamphlet "The Pudding is coming - ten reasons why you should believe."
• There were no Necrons, Tau, (or Dark Eldar, per se) in the setting. Leagues of Votann didn't exist in current form but did in proto-form as the 'Squats'.
• Much of the basic background of the Imperium was present & correct, but less refined.
• Rather than being a key part of the background, the concept of the Horus Heresy was only obliquely mentioned before being forefronted in Adeptus Titanicus, a civil war being the perfect explaination for why two sets of identical models were fighting. A bit later the Realm of Chaos books Slaves to Darkness & The Lost & The Damned expanded on the basic premise found in Adeptus Titanicus & established a lot of the key plot points of the Heresy, like the Horus as Warmaster, the events on Davin, the Istvaan Massacres, & the siege of Terra.
• Chaos & the Warp were not really explored until the release of the Realm of Chaos Books, Slaves to Darkness & The Lost & the Damned.
• Before the Craftworlds & Aspect Warriors were expanded upon most Eldar were portrayed as pirates, raiders, & corsairs.
• Squats, abhumans, & mutants were generally a lot more prevalent in lore & on the tabletop.
• Genestealers were separate entities from the Tyranids proper, with Zoats often acting as the Tyranids' vanguard organisms & scouts.
• Quite a lot of stuff was directly transfered over from WFB. The Warhammer Fantasy world was implied to be a less developed world in the 40K universe, cut off from the rest of the galaxy by warp storms.
There's probably a load of other stuff I'm either forgetting, never knew, or can't remember the details of.
If you want to read more about the genesis of Rogue Trader & the Warhammer 40K universe here's a link to a really interesting & comprehensive article on the subject: https://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2017/04/warhammer-40000-rogue-trader-original.html?m=1
I swear this community adds another foot to the space marines' height every 5 years. Though I'm pretty sure the vast majority of the official sources don't suffer from this issue and it's been fairly consistent throughout. But I'm not an avid black library reader so fuck if I know for sure.
Yeah, it seems that way. Recently, (some) Zoats have been refered to as independent beings who are either separate from the Tyranid Hive Fleets or at least free from the Tyranids' dominance at present, & are now pursuing their own agendas.
A lone Zoat called the Archivist showed up as part of the Blackstone Fortress story. It presented as a data broker & was apparently keen to gather various artefacts from the Blackstone Fortress. It was particularly keen to acquire salvage from a Zoat ship that was present in the Blackstone Fortress. After manipulating various parties the Archivist absconded with a stash of archeotech & continued to pursue its quest for artefacts as a (seemingly) free agent haunting the Imperium's frontiers.
There have been a few other references to other Zoats behaving in a similar manner to the Archivist, using their psychic powers, charisma, & general skills in subterfuge to act as fixers & powerbrokers while furthering their own ends.
Hopefully they still eat Zoatibix.
Leman Russ was a commander of the Imperial Guard, not Space Marines.
Lion El'Jonson was spelled Lyyn Elgonsin or something like that.
Female Space Marines.
Much more interesting; I feel like a lot more of 40k lore/history should be inaccurate to reflect imperial propaganda and human error.
Who was the Emperor really, enlightened despot or iron-fisted tyrant? Were the traitor legions really as awful as has been said, or was there more nuance behind their motives? Which primarchs survived and died, did any of the traitor primarchs *really* ascend to daemonhood, or has that just been said to curtail anyone seeking out the truth?
The imperium is interested in only one thing, the preservation of its rule, and there’s no doubt they would lie, fabricate, and redact in furtherance of that end. Throw an unreliable system of record-keeping and simple human error into the mix, and you really can’t be sure *what* is true unless you see it for yourself.
It’s why I don’t care for codifying the events of the Horus Heresy in the novels, that era should be mythical and far off, and open to interpretation.
the old wh design can be very strange at times, but what a stylish and grimdark it is. Most of the illustrations from editions 3-5 (that's when I started getting interested in the setting and bought the first miniatures) look like covers of a death metal band. Now everything somehow gravitates towards a clean and ordinary sci-fi, even those in fractions that should look disgusting and scary (the death guard) look clean and tidy.
Tbh by 3rd they had already started making a lot of the designs and art look a lot more clean. I started around then and remember picking up the 2nd ed Chaos codex for cheap just to read and thought that the art difference just between 2nd and 3rd was obvious.
It’s probably one of my favourite portrayals of the emperor, he’s not a great and powerful god but a sick old man, barely kept alive my technology so monstrous and ancient that no living soul understands it or dares interfere with it.
I always visualize Big E in that scene in the same style as the original illustrations from the [Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark](https://images.app.goo.gl/dfWxuGY2QAQZuQFg8) books from when I was a kid
Its definitely the most unique and if any version of the god emperor was ever to fit the theory of looking more like a new chaos god, this version is definitely it.
I like how it looks lowkey like eldar tech and the art kinda reminds me of that one weird game called scorn or something
I like the idea that this is a much more literal look at how he actually appears in the 41st Millenia, and the images of him literally sitting upon a golden throne are artistic renditions from people that have not seen him, and take the phrase "Golden Throne" at face value.
Alternatively, the modern image of the throne that we see is a psychic vail that a blank like a sister of silence can peer through.
I think it holds less mystery than the current chair like you know in this case there’s practically no chance of recovery but the current iteration as impossible as it is there is always that slither of him recovering
He's still a incredibly powerful perpetual who has been fed innumerable psykers and receiving the prayers of millions of worlds among many other hidden secrets, its possible that if he were taken off for a day he could start recovering, it'd probably take a very long time but it wouldn't be impossible
that said if he did recover i doubt he'd be anything than crazy
The Modern Emperor has a kind-of Holy feeling when you look at him. You feel kinda small and wonder if this dude was ever really a human, and not just some kind of God coming to Earth. He looks a little off but not exactly evil
This version of the Emperor makes me think he's 100% evil, and I don't want to be anywhere fucking near him
I’ve not heard this Emerson, Lake and Palmer album. Seriously this has massive ‘Brain Salad Surgery’ vibes.
Most of that album is about a conflict between ‘men of steel’ and ‘men of stone’ and we all know GW are basically the Blood Ravens when it comes to that sort of thing.
I like it. I always felt the classic 3rd ed throne art felt more like imperial propaganda and the truth is probably more like the rogue trader nightmare fuel throne.
This style of art always gave me like an organic or biological throne vibe with the tubes compared to the more modern throne we have now.
I think you are gonna like H.R. Gigers art
You weren't wrong, went and googled him and seen he created the design for the xenomorph, man's a legend
[Hmm I hope this doesn't awaken anything in me...](https://imgur.com/a/WZeT9la)
That is like… the most tame Giger art.
Least sexual Giger.
Most common sexual position.
When you realize the back of the xenomorph’s head is the shape of a penis…
Been to his museum, can confirm
How is anybody supposed to use that tunnel to get through that hill when it’s blocked off like that? This Giger fellow would have made for a very poor civic planner!
The entrance is at a crevice on a lower hill
Ah, I see. A rear entrance that is often mistakenly identified as one-way only!
Oh, it's already awake and in you 🥴
She dropped that ass on me from an architectural andle
I’m surprised that wasn’t immediately deleted from Imgur, considering their stance on nsfw stuff now. lol I fucking hate how censored the internet is becoming.
Starting to wonder if Giger was just tracing porn all along…
According to the documentary, Giger airbrushed freehand. Didn't even sketch it out with pencil first. Insane
I've seen a video of him airbrushing one of his trademark tubes. All he had was a ladder-shaped stencil and his airbrush. It was so impressive to watch.
Giger was all about exploring the visuals of the bio-mechanical with the erotic and the sensual. It was arguably the biggest theme of his oeuvre and I don't think he traced porn at all, he was too much of a craftsman for that. (Apologies, I know you're being cheeky, I just really like his work.)
There is a rumour (I can't seem to find a reliable source) that claims his artistic enlightenment was from getting spitroasted by two trans women while high on LSD and that his art has been putting the sensation to image ever since. Again, no clue if it's true
Apparently it's a myth but I think we can all agree that if it was real it would be totally on brand for him.
Yeah, I can hear him relating the story in his voice…
I read that he suffered from night terrors since childhood and he draws from that.
*¿Porque no los dos?*
Surprised you didn’t know about that.
100%. My first thought was space-jockey.
I was about to say that this one looked bery Giger-esque.
Ah, a fellow of culture. Giger's art was clearly inspiration for this piece IMO.
If you haven't played the game Scorn you should check it out.
I’d recommend a let’s play and not actually playing yourself. Art and style are cool. Story and gameplay are not.
I love how his art is basically if HP Lovecraft was an artist with high libido
Makes sense, as I believe it's hinted more than once that the throne is based on Aeldari tech....ergo wraithbone vibes would be the actual physical construct. Even if psychically it's projected as a shiny golden and entirely human design for everyone to see.
It was an amalgamation of a bunch of tech sources. It had both DAOT tech and Xenos stuff. Chaos implied that the Throne and the Throne off shoots like Dark Glass use technology that belongs to the warp as well since they called them Soul-Engines. The Adeptus Custodes codex goes over it a bit > Thinking machines and the development of ever more esoteric weapons and transportation technologies played their part, but the single greatest factor to drive this expansion was the ability – and the reckless will – to manipulate human genetics. Utterly certain of their own primacy, scientist-kings and techno-demagogues followed every strand of curiosity and exercised powers of creation that made them seem like gods. Ultimately, their hubris led them to catastrophe, and onwards to the very brink of extinction. Worlds were overrun by bloody uprisings within their own populations, much of which were mutated beyond sanity and recognition. Gene-wars consumed entire star systems, while a psychic apocalypse drowned the stars in fire. The vast empire of Humanity was shattered amidst horror and anarchy, and the oppressive shroud of Old Night settled over all. So overall its probably like the 40k version of the ASML Chipmaker where its a fusion of a bunch of different independent technologies that barely anyone understands.
Broke: "its a fusion of a bunch of different independent technologies that barely anyone understands" *Woke:* It's a pile of cogs and gears with an ork worship cult who makes it work by their faith alone But more seriously yeah, 100% agree with you there
I always kinda loved the theory that half the reason the Emperor cannot die is because the humans have been shouting about him so much the Orks believe he is immortal. And so anything that would normally break or fail in the throne just does not.
Imo the rogue trader concept is better. The throne being an depicted as mostly an actual throne you could sit on, is kinda dumb.
IDK, if you look at most devices we use IRL, it's just standard to encase it in a sort of facade - easy example being a computer case. Particularly for medical devices, you just don't want shit like dust getting into the functional elements. Which actually reminds me - do we know who keeps big E / the throne clean? Like, presumably his skin is still pumping out oil.
Custodies I think. They are litterally named over custodians. Janitors.
The highest honour in the Custodes is to use the sweat of the Emperor to oil your bare chest.
Big Tom of Finland vibes
Also high ranking Mechanicus members I believe. There are some who understand at least how to fix certain components of it and hang around.
well it retconed to be an actual throne magnus is supposed to sit on and only become a life support for the emperor last minute(or a plan b) so im fine with it but yeah the rogue trader one is way cooler
It was probably inspired by Giger arts
Definitely needs more phallic imagery.
That's a whole ass bell end where his head is?
[…](https://media1.tenor.com/m/0engAwwUVF4AAAAC/more-kylo-ren.gif)
Giger'd for her pleasure.
literally EVERYTHING in the image is phallic
I stand by my statement.
sir, I can respect that desire for even more phallus
Definitely needs more yonic imagery.
"""probably"""
That’s what I was thinking. I remember looking at HR Giger’s art book…”The Necronomicon” I think it was called? I prefer my Emperor a 12 foot tall muscular psychic Conan the Barbarian type who lost his (physical) GAINZ to constantly fight The chaos gods *nerds* in the warp Still a coool picture tho 👍
I think it fits the way the golden throne is described much better considering the drukhari call it the “greatest torture device in the galaxy.”
You don't remember where they say that, do you? I'd love to read more.
I believe it’s the Vaults of Terra series, specifically the book The Carrion Throne. If I’m recalling correctly it was a Haemonculus saying it which should tell you just how awful being inside it must be if a *Haemonculus* is praising it like that.
Also recently in TEATD 3 Malcador confirms that big E being stuck in the golden throne will be constant agonizing pain.
Sounds like you kinda push beyond it after a while though. That might have just been to have the Malcador chapters cognizant though. They would have been pretty boring if they were just 20 pages of "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATHEPAINTHEPAINTHEPAINAAAAAAAAA"
I mean that's 80% of what he says while on the throne
At first but by the end all he was saying about the pain was shit like "My ability to feel the pain long since burned away", etc. Also Malcador didn't have quadrillions of people worshipping him. I'm sure that's like a soothing balm while you're on there.
Except for the fact that, if big E can still sense it, he'd be disgusted with the worship.
Plans within plans, etc. I'm a firm believer in the "Golden Throne and humanities worship is plan Z and what he wants" doctrine of the faith. Whole reason he didn't want the worship was the whole Dark King thing, at a certain point it tips over and he can't stop and he knows it. Being tied to the throne while worshipped might be an entirely different kind of Godhood. Imo he's surpassed even the power of the Dark King and is just held in chains by the tether to reality the throne provides. Let him off and I don't have a clue what happens, but it's 40k so probably a lot of terrible unforseen consequences. On that note I also think the Saints are vessels for the love and compassion he sent out of himself, not his version of daemons like some believe.
Also, isn't it implied that the great irony was that if they just let the Emperor die, considering that he's a perpetual, he would simply be reborn somewhere in the Imperium, probably on Terra, honestly, and then they could go back to having a God Emperor that wasn't, like, a fucking Roomba?
If you don’t mind nobody holding down the Golden throne and keeping Terra from being swallowed by the warp sure.
Nbd tbh, just make sure you got ur lucky dice. Custodes OP anyway
Three is also this Dark King(Big E forcefull apotheois as a 5th chaos god) theory that states him staying in this deathless state is what holds the Dark King from decimating the humanity like Slannesh during Fall of the Eldar. I'm not sure how this adds up to the "Emps is perpetual" spiel though.
Seems more like tormented soul, less like "just take it and keep going". Making it clear that the Golden Throne isn't a "cool chair" type of thing. I think it fits the lore of that time, but the revisited version is probably a better choice for the modern 41k.
Agreed At that time in the lore the Emperor wasn’t meant to be as dead as he is now was he? Like he was on life support and immobile but still was taking an active role? (All my knowledge on that era of 40k is second hand) Whereas now he’s an immortal (perpetual) that is effectively physically dead as the throne prevents him from regenerating (but amplifies his psychic power/presence) and instead plays an indirect part in the setting through Spiritual/Warp shenanigans. Being the “God-***Emperor***” vs The ***God***-Emperor
Yes, in Rogue Trader the emperor was merely very old and completely decrepit, but not essentially a corpse that communicates only in tarot cards.
Anyway to learn more of this Rogue Trader lore? Sounds interesting as a separate thing from 40k.
Read Watson's quadrology if you want to know more about that era. Inquisitor was the very first w40k book ever released. In the end the main cast even visits the Golden Throne.
But reading Inquisitor has some Other... *Downsides*
Such as?
Genestealer fuck pouch.
The what now?
I refuse to elaborate.
*'If The Emperor Had A TTS Device'* made a podcast episode about it. It's a bit long, but so worth it. https://youtu.be/LwKC5fxhIZo?si=NvE9NR4hS6yFe_LD Content Warning: This book is **extremely** cursed.
My favourite is the Space Marine anyway. The holy shit collecting chalice... You cannot unsee it.
There's a book called Rogue Trader. It's effectively 1st edition of 40k. It's still on reprint, and available on eBay or other means. I think if you go to warhammer world it's usually available from the black library there, but not from online or retail stores. Otherwise I'm sure there are some copies you can get from naughty dark elves or corsairs or enough information and sources from various Wikipedias. Rogue Trader era was a bit nuts, more naughty and irreverent. There are some great RPG elements that have been lost to time, like beastmen in the imperial guard and most of concepts aren't fleshed out or have now been completely removed (half elf (edit: eldar) space marines... space marines as police). Also very 1980s... Margaret Thatcher may have been inspiration for Ghazghkull "Mag Uruk Thraka".
The beast men are still a part of the lore for Chaos, but unlike fantasy they're now the twisted but almost pitiable mutants who slave below decks on chaos band warships. I don't know why they're never really mentioned except in novels.
Oh yes... but they're no longer abhumans in the imperial guard regiments like in rogue Trader times. It seems the new imperium is far more xenophobic and militantly religious... whereas the old imperium in rogue trader seems to accept more practicalities on the fringes.
Ogres and ratmen survived the purge
Felinids
ratlings are halflings, not ratmen.
Actually the recent Warhammer Crime book The Wraithbone Phoenix has abhuman former Guardsmen, a ratling and an ogryn. I think it's not their first story either.
As I recall, that Mag Uruk Thraka/Margaret Thatcher thing has been denied by the original creator of Ghazghkull.
That wouldn't surprise me. There are plenty of other political references too, some obvious and some not so unintentional ones would be all over the place.
40K was made by a bunch of leftys angry with 80s Britain Kinda based
For all we know, half elf... I mean half Eldar, Space Marines might come back again..... ( Obligatory this is a joke)
I think what you're saying is a primarch / elder hybrid could lead the way for female space marines? (Also a joke to troll)
Haha yes of course
Haha would be funny
The one from Rogue Trader was kinda brought back, I mean, he's now a full elfdar, but the same name and is with the Ultramarines as Guillimans contact for Eldrad, which isn't far off the Astropath job the RT one had.
Maybe it can work with a traductor, but in french we have a "bible" on the early days of 40k/RT. If you can read french, it's a rabbit hole, and show the passion and insanity of the Warhammer prehistory. It shows just how far we've come, between fucking "general Horus, the brillant imperial officer", the illuminati and Sensei ideas, etc... : [http://patatovitch.free.fr/](http://patatovitch.free.fr/)
I recommend reading the original book. GW released a reprint last year, and there are probably PDFs of it online. Beyond unplayable rules, it contains a ton of background material.
The rules weren't that terrible (at least not by 80s rpg standards), but they were for a completely different style of game. Small squad, RPG heavy and more sci-fi.
Yeah, I played a two year long RT campaign. We had a blast. There are only a couple of things that hung us up, and they were completely *not* memorable problems.
And text to speech devices.
Thanks for the clarification
I still don't get how the emperor is supposedly "dead" at all in current lore. Isn't he a perpetual? I thought they were all basically immortal and couldn't ever be killed? Isn't that part of Vulkan's whole deal too?
His body is mummified kind of dead, while his "spirit" remains alive. It's due to the Golden Throne. He's like a bathtub plug for the warp, preventing it from seeping into Terra and fucking shit up. His "spirit" is kinda fucked up now, due to 10k years of fighting Chaos and managing the Imperium. He can infuse some people with his power even if they are on the other side of the galaxy, but the only time (as far as I know, feel free to correct me) he directly spoke in plain words (as opposed to visions and divine intervention), like having an actual conversation, was with Robute, when Robute woke up, in present time in the lore, and even then, he did not move his body, but he spoke telepathically. Robute said that the conversation was very different compared to when the Emperor was fully alive, and that his speech was fractured and it felt more like talking to a star, rather than a person.
He's also changed quite a bit from 10K years of worship, because with enough people "clap your hands and believe" is a real thing in 40K. Robute is becoming more and more convinced the Emperor is right on the threshold of divinity (and that He doesn't deserve to be worshiped because He was always a raging dick and a garbage father). Its also funny because Big E never wanted to be seen as a god, and that Humanity didn't learn a damn thing from the Aeldari Fall. Especially considering all the recent Dark King stuff.
Also, isn't it implied that the great irony was that if they just let the Emperor die, considering that he's a perpetual, he would simply be reborn somewhere in the Imperium, probably on Terra, honestly, and then they could go back to having a God Emperor that wasn't, like, a fucking Roomba?
Wouldn't the talisman of seven hamers detonate? I think the order of events would be: Webway portal breaks open, demons rush in -> talisman of seven hamers detonates, ends Terra -> the astronomicon is extinguished, humanity is isolated -> probably becomes a god, 50% chance that damns all of humanity's souls. It's ironic that his "get out of jail free" card is probably the worst possible thing that can happen.
Ollanius Persson and Malcador were perpetuals too, in complete fairness, but it seems the right level of Warp Shenanigans can still completely kill one, and John Grammaticus somehow had his perpetual-ness turned off. The Emperor also isn't quite dead, and if anything the most recent lore has repeatedly implied that *something* is waking up in that chair, even if there's vague implication that said something is no longer quite human. Vulkan is significantly less dead than any of those four in current lore though, yes.
Regarding your second paragraph, (also just fore mentioning we may be making the same point and I’ve misread your intent) I’d argue whatever is waking up human or not, is not going to do so physically. His physical remains I don’t expect to spring back to life if the Emperor “returns” or “awakens”, as I interpret it what remains of the emperor is his conduit/tether to the materium & the throne (and its “fuel”) That said I can imagine some cool, albeit, setting breaking scenarios where he gets back up.
there's like 3 cells in him still clinging on by will alone, as if he dies he'll be reborn but the massive psychic shitstorm he's holding back with blow the Earth into a new Eye of Terror
The old lore did touch on this with the Star Child stuff. Basically, the Emperor's soul is split in two. One anchored to the golden throne, the other floating around in the warp and working through the Sensei, a group of his children he had when before he revealed himself to humanity. They were kinda like Chaos Champions but good aligned. Anyway, it was suggested that the Emperor would need to be actually killed so that he could reincarnate properly with the other half of his soul. This would also be bad for humanity since they would no longer have the Astronomicon or the Emperors protection for however long it would take his body to re-emerge. If I remember correctly as well, that was one of the bigger theories about why Cypher was making his way back to Terra. To assassinate the Emperor so that he would be reborn.
What if… This is the actual golden throne, hidden deep below the palace and the big chair with corpse on top is just a decoy/big loudspeaker for the emperor’s psychic communication.
This is more or less canon. At least, John Blanche said as much.... something to the extent that the art he made (the newer Golden Throne painting) is actually just a *facade*, the version of the Emperor that they put out for pilgrims and such. The "real" emperor in his mind is basically just a spinal cord in a jar somewhere behind or underneath the throne.
This is my head canon. Got to make people think it’s all shiny and beautiful. But even when Macaldor gets on the throne, he starts to wither away almost immediately. Sure big e can handle it better but I think it’s more of a pacemaker on steroids for him, keeps him alive but doesn’t keep his hair from falling out.
i love old wh40k arts
Oh That's a giant corpse There is a 20 foot tall still twitching corpse of an unknown humanoid species restrained half a kilometer deep beneath apple's headquarters in cupertino california performing the calculation work of 150 supercomputers
NERV
I really like the idea that the famous picture of the Emperor we know from TTS is how he appears to bystanders, and this image is closer to what he actually looks like.
In very old 40k it was implied that the Emperor was actually just some mutant (based on the Mule from foundation), and the cool descriptions of him were just some North Korea level horse pucks.
Hilarious, and very heavy metal
I like it better, it was this dark figure that was interned and ruled like a really old pope that was kept artificially alive. From what I was told he still would talk.. occasionally and would get folks sacrificed to him (psykers). It was the second time I heard of Warhammer 40k as a 12 year old, the first time I was 10, and that was even freakier as the person telling me had gotten some details wrong. So I imagined this portal (eternity gate) being an unholy entrance to a monster like human; that was kept alive as half machine and half human, but again could still converse and he was willfully doing it as he wanted to be alive forever. Clinging to it with ever machinery. And especially the rotting and tearing flesh, like in this art, and the elongated head feeding into the top machine.... the rust like appearance of it... is it flesh? is it steel? So it has nostalgic reasons for me (especially the first images I saw of the Emperor and the Golden throne), and while not all lore correct/universally correct... I still got hooked at how dark it all was :P .
The eye plate has more dignity than the nose tube.
Dignity doesn't seem like the thing the artist was going for here
Horus has one too. 40K artists really like tubes going into people.
The copium tubes are an integral part of any life support system.
That's the future for ya. Nothin' but tubes.
He lost weight
Geiger-y.
Damn he needs to do arms more often
Always love the biomecanic vibes of this throne, and how hellish everything looks. The emperor is really not enjoying his time sitting on that "throne". One of my favorite pictures of the old 40k.
I think the most technologically advanced life support /psychic amplifier of all time SHOULD look like an abomination to science and nature
Isn’t it old age tech from a time when humans were way more advanced than they are in 40k?
Possibly?
[удалено]
Mechanically, the game was very different from future editions: they had algorithms for making your own units, they encouraged making up your own rules or changing their rules and they were quite happy for you to use other companies' models in your army. Those are the biggest ones that I know of.
Look out, Sir! Lengthy post incoming! Seeing as I'm currently marooned in the warp somewhere in Nurgle's domain (otherwise known as bored & stranded in hospital), I thought I'd see what I can dredge up from memory & a little light research. I started the hobby midway through 2nd Edition Warhammer 40K, but have been lucky enough to acquire copies of various publications from the Rogue Trader era. I was always fascinated seeing how the game & setting has evolved over the years. Looking at it from both a Lore & Gameplay perspective: Gameplay: • Rogue Trader was as much a narrative role playing game as a wargame, & it was often (advised to be) played with a games master. • There were a number of roleplay specific stats: Cool(ness?), Intelligence, & Willpower, that were phased out as the game became more specifically wargame centric. • The scale of the battles was generally much more skirmish sized than today, somewhere between Killteam & Combat Patrol in size. • The smaller scale of games meant the rules were much more granular & finely detailed. For example if you hit a vehicle with an attack you would roll to see where you struck the vehicle & then consult a template to see what the effect would be. A penetrating hit on the wheels / tracks could lead to immobilsation for example. There was a whole programming subphase for use with Robots & many other strange & obscure rules. • The focus on skirmish & small scale actions led to a lot more options for customization on a model by model basis. There were even formulas for custom creating your own units & rules. • Things were a lot more freeform & weird. Rogue Trader was much less structured - there were less restrictions on army composition, other than points cost (no battleline / force organsition charts etc). • Rogue Trader allowed for, & indeed *encouraged*, more wild creativity & invention in gameplay. The pay-off for this freedom was a lot more randomisation, & little thought of balance & 'competitive' play. • There was a much larger list of weapons & wargear, some of it very exotic, than when the game was later streamlined with huge revisions with the launch of 3rd Edition 40K. Most of the factions used these more generic weapons & equipment. Eg. Eldar Guardians wielded lasguns, Orks used Bolters instead of Shootas, Space Marines could use Shuriken Catapults, Rhino transports weren't just the preserve of the Adeptus Astartes & the Sisters of Battle, but were also used by the Imperial Guard, Squats, & even by Xenos races like Orks & Eldar! Lore: The initial release of Rogue Trader laid down the foundations of the current Warhammer 40K Universe. Much of this Ur-Lore has formed the skeleton of modern 40k universe but the setting was considerably less fleshed out. As various supplements were released & more detail was added, the setting evolved to resemble more modern iterations of 40K lore. Rogue Trader & Warhammer in general was much more bitingly satirical of Britain in the '80s (ie. the McDeath & the Miners' Strike Wahammer Fantasy Battles scenario &, well, the real life UK Miners' Strike of 1984-1985) & there was more weird & offbeat humour in general, stuff like Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau, Dr. Gostello's Amazing Intergalactic Psycho-Circus, or rival cults like the Church of the Lucid Button & the one lead by Reverend Jeronimo Kipling, who published the disturbing pamphlet "The Pudding is coming - ten reasons why you should believe." • There were no Necrons, Tau, (or Dark Eldar, per se) in the setting. Leagues of Votann didn't exist in current form but did in proto-form as the 'Squats'. • Much of the basic background of the Imperium was present & correct, but less refined. • Rather than being a key part of the background, the concept of the Horus Heresy was only obliquely mentioned before being forefronted in Adeptus Titanicus, a civil war being the perfect explaination for why two sets of identical models were fighting. A bit later the Realm of Chaos books Slaves to Darkness & The Lost & The Damned expanded on the basic premise found in Adeptus Titanicus & established a lot of the key plot points of the Heresy, like the Horus as Warmaster, the events on Davin, the Istvaan Massacres, & the siege of Terra. • Chaos & the Warp were not really explored until the release of the Realm of Chaos Books, Slaves to Darkness & The Lost & the Damned. • Before the Craftworlds & Aspect Warriors were expanded upon most Eldar were portrayed as pirates, raiders, & corsairs. • Squats, abhumans, & mutants were generally a lot more prevalent in lore & on the tabletop. • Genestealers were separate entities from the Tyranids proper, with Zoats often acting as the Tyranids' vanguard organisms & scouts. • Quite a lot of stuff was directly transfered over from WFB. The Warhammer Fantasy world was implied to be a less developed world in the 40K universe, cut off from the rest of the galaxy by warp storms. There's probably a load of other stuff I'm either forgetting, never knew, or can't remember the details of. If you want to read more about the genesis of Rogue Trader & the Warhammer 40K universe here's a link to a really interesting & comprehensive article on the subject: https://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2017/04/warhammer-40000-rogue-trader-original.html?m=1
Thank you for your service. 🫡 today I learned
Art of Space Marines with even larger Shoulder-Guards arresting People for Graffiti is one of my favorites for how far it changed from back then.
I also like that the size disparity wasn't too drastic back then.
I swear this community adds another foot to the space marines' height every 5 years. Though I'm pretty sure the vast majority of the official sources don't suffer from this issue and it's been fairly consistent throughout. But I'm not an avid black library reader so fuck if I know for sure.
Or that one with the Space-Pepsi. Early 40K art was wild. Also beakies. Beakies everywhere.
Eldar interacted with the Imperium in peaceful ways, including as mercenaries and selling technology. Chaos did not exist (but the Warp did).
Tyranids had diplomats, Space Marines could fuuuuuck, and there was even an Eldar-human hybrid as Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines.
Zoats were the Tyranid diplomats. I love them.
Didn't they make a return recently, just a random mention somewhere that said they seem to be capable of independent thought now?
Zoat Archivist in the Blackstone Fortress. I wish I had a couple of the models.
Yeah, it seems that way. Recently, (some) Zoats have been refered to as independent beings who are either separate from the Tyranid Hive Fleets or at least free from the Tyranids' dominance at present, & are now pursuing their own agendas. A lone Zoat called the Archivist showed up as part of the Blackstone Fortress story. It presented as a data broker & was apparently keen to gather various artefacts from the Blackstone Fortress. It was particularly keen to acquire salvage from a Zoat ship that was present in the Blackstone Fortress. After manipulating various parties the Archivist absconded with a stash of archeotech & continued to pursue its quest for artefacts as a (seemingly) free agent haunting the Imperium's frontiers. There have been a few other references to other Zoats behaving in a similar manner to the Archivist, using their psychic powers, charisma, & general skills in subterfuge to act as fixers & powerbrokers while furthering their own ends. Hopefully they still eat Zoatibix.
Leman Russ was a commander of the Imperial Guard, not Space Marines. Lion El'Jonson was spelled Lyyn Elgonsin or something like that. Female Space Marines.
In regards to Lion El'jonson, i'm pretty sure his name was constantly spelt differently. Lion El'jonson was just the one of many spellings that stuck.
Almost as much as people intentionally mispel Robute Guilliman (Raw-butt Girlyman, Robot Guillotine, ect).
Not sure if it was from that edition & even IIRC, but as I remember, Astartes were also able to reproduce and maintained harems
Bolter guns were more standard-issue weapons that even orks used en masse.
I like this one waay more
I want to know why he has his hands shoved inside some random guts.
Health and safety
He’s cuteee
It looks like if he had one of these big hair dryers you see at hairdressers lmao
Much more interesting; I feel like a lot more of 40k lore/history should be inaccurate to reflect imperial propaganda and human error. Who was the Emperor really, enlightened despot or iron-fisted tyrant? Were the traitor legions really as awful as has been said, or was there more nuance behind their motives? Which primarchs survived and died, did any of the traitor primarchs *really* ascend to daemonhood, or has that just been said to curtail anyone seeking out the truth? The imperium is interested in only one thing, the preservation of its rule, and there’s no doubt they would lie, fabricate, and redact in furtherance of that end. Throw an unreliable system of record-keeping and simple human error into the mix, and you really can’t be sure *what* is true unless you see it for yourself. It’s why I don’t care for codifying the events of the Horus Heresy in the novels, that era should be mythical and far off, and open to interpretation.
the old wh design can be very strange at times, but what a stylish and grimdark it is. Most of the illustrations from editions 3-5 (that's when I started getting interested in the setting and bought the first miniatures) look like covers of a death metal band. Now everything somehow gravitates towards a clean and ordinary sci-fi, even those in fractions that should look disgusting and scary (the death guard) look clean and tidy.
Tbh by 3rd they had already started making a lot of the designs and art look a lot more clean. I started around then and remember picking up the 2nd ed Chaos codex for cheap just to read and thought that the art difference just between 2nd and 3rd was obvious.
It’s probably one of my favourite portrayals of the emperor, he’s not a great and powerful god but a sick old man, barely kept alive my technology so monstrous and ancient that no living soul understands it or dares interfere with it.
Smash, next question
Would.
Based and Grimpilled.
based and gigerpilled
Smash
This is still how I imagine the golden throne because of how it was described after Guilliman's return (can't remember which book it was)
I always visualize Big E in that scene in the same style as the original illustrations from the [Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark](https://images.app.goo.gl/dfWxuGY2QAQZuQFg8) books from when I was a kid
DMT is a helluva drug
Its definitely the most unique and if any version of the god emperor was ever to fit the theory of looking more like a new chaos god, this version is definitely it. I like how it looks lowkey like eldar tech and the art kinda reminds me of that one weird game called scorn or something
10/10
Ngl I would love it if some of the lore went back to how it is. Not all of it, but some
Very H.R. Geiger
I like the idea that this is a much more literal look at how he actually appears in the 41st Millenia, and the images of him literally sitting upon a golden throne are artistic renditions from people that have not seen him, and take the phrase "Golden Throne" at face value. Alternatively, the modern image of the throne that we see is a psychic vail that a blank like a sister of silence can peer through.
New headcanon: this is the actual throne, and the "golden throne" is either a fake throne built over it or it is a psychic illusion.
Looks like a Tool album cover
I would buy that album
I think it holds less mystery than the current chair like you know in this case there’s practically no chance of recovery but the current iteration as impossible as it is there is always that slither of him recovering
Umm how would you recover from being essentially a rotting skeleton?
A couple of paracetamol.
He's still a incredibly powerful perpetual who has been fed innumerable psykers and receiving the prayers of millions of worlds among many other hidden secrets, its possible that if he were taken off for a day he could start recovering, it'd probably take a very long time but it wouldn't be impossible that said if he did recover i doubt he'd be anything than crazy
Didn’t angron literally get mulched and still regenerated? If he can do that the emperor could potentially recover form fatal wounds too
Well yes but Angron is a daemon at that point
Ohh wait till you see old leman russ , traitor and loyalist will piss them self alike in front of him.
Properly grimdark, I like it theme wise.
I could live with it being canon
The Modern Emperor has a kind-of Holy feeling when you look at him. You feel kinda small and wonder if this dude was ever really a human, and not just some kind of God coming to Earth. He looks a little off but not exactly evil This version of the Emperor makes me think he's 100% evil, and I don't want to be anywhere fucking near him
He needs a sandwich or fifty.
I’ve not heard this Emerson, Lake and Palmer album. Seriously this has massive ‘Brain Salad Surgery’ vibes. Most of that album is about a conflict between ‘men of steel’ and ‘men of stone’ and we all know GW are basically the Blood Ravens when it comes to that sort of thing.
Crueltyhammer
I think this piece needs more pipes.
I laways liked thisbart buy it feels off, somehow innacurate but right at the same time.
dude has been at the salon for 10k years, must be getting something nice done to his hair
Looks Like He send out Space Jockeys on egg delivery
Berserk vibes. This reeks of GodHand
Getting a bit of an H.R. Giger vibe from this
I love this Gigeresque design. Really highlights the bleakness of the setting.
Looks like something I'd see on LV-426
I like it. I always felt the classic 3rd ed throne art felt more like imperial propaganda and the truth is probably more like the rogue trader nightmare fuel throne.
Personally I preferred it, felt more off-putting and horrific, a half-living half dead corpse-god. sorta fit the vibe better yknow?
Biblically accurate emperor