How would the God-Emperor of Man have dealt with xeno races?

Cykeisme · Post by **Cykeisme** » 2007-09-20 04:37pm

At present, the Imperium of Man is a totalitarian, oppressive state that is also highly xenophobic, to the point that it occassionally prevents the attainment of what would arguably be an optimum solution (i.e. refusing to ally with a not-overtly-hostile xeno force to defeat a greater evil).

However, is this simply the way the current government works (with the High Lords speaking with the Emperor's authority)? Would the Emperor himself have had less qualms with occassionally allying with, say the Eldar?

In that specific regard, are there recorded instances on the Emperor having any sort of interaction with the Eldar?

This quote is not directly related, but it seems to indicate that the Imperium would have been a normal, peachy sort of place to live in, had the Emperor not ascended to the Golden Throne.

One of the Great Crusade's major objectives was to liberate humanity from the shackles of religion and thus the Emperor personally reprimanded Lorgar, informing him that his task was to free human worlds from alien oppression, not re-enslave them under a new tyranny.

It's from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_Bearers

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2007-09-20 05:18pm

The Emperor did have some pretty utopian ideals, yes, at least until Chaos reared its ugly head. His armies still exterminated xenos during the Great Crusade, however, including while they were directly under his command.

I don't know of any contact with Eldar off the top of my head, at least not until the Heresy was coming to a head. They had just been completely fucked by the birth of Slaanesh, so they weren't really in a position to do much.

Ezekyle Abaddon · Post by **Ezekyle Abaddon** » 2007-09-20 05:30pm

From a rough guessfrom what i have read during the Horus Heresy only alian species that were similar to humanity and willing to become vassal states would be allowed to survive or else it was massive smackdown time.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2007-09-20 05:45pm

Isn't there a door to the Webway behind the Golden Throne? Seems that the Emperor might have been at least collaborating with some Eldar, or just pirating the Webway.

Archaic` · Post by **Archaic`** » 2007-09-20 06:06pm

Eldrad had a personal audience with the Emperor on at least one occasion, so there was certainly contact there, but to what level, I'm not sure.

Lost Soal · Post by **Lost Soal** » 2007-09-20 06:38pm

By the way, the Imperium does ally with Xenos when the need is necessary, specifically they have joined with the Eldar to fight the Nids and Chaos on separate occasions while the joined briefly with the Tau to combat an emergent Daemon Prince.

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2007-09-20 08:03pm

I'm assuming that if the Emperor had remained whole of body after the battle with Horus, i.e., able to personally exercise his authority as Emperor, he would have treated xeno the way the Tau treated non-Tau races, or the way Americans treat illegal aliens-- spared if they're useful as servants and slaves, and ruthlessly exterminated if they're not.

Post by **Kuja** » 2007-09-20 08:15pm

The Emperor wasn't really out to exterminate all the xenos he saw the way the Imperium is not, but he did have an extremely harsh "humans first - everyone else second" policy that was very quick to resort to full-scale genocide if humanity was threatened in any way. We saw that Horus was willing to treat with the human-alien Interex alliance, thugh things quickly went south, because he felt they did not constitute an emergent threat to the Imperium. On the other hand, we saw Mortarion and the Death Guard stamp out the jorgall with extreme prejudice because their cylinder worlds were penetrating human-held space.

Vaporous · Post by **Vaporous** » 2007-09-20 11:39pm

I'm not sure how the 40K canon works, but in Horus Rising, Horus seems pretty sure that the Emperor's "kill the xeno, etc." policy was directly related to the fact that all of the species that they encountered wanted humanity dead or enslaved. He went on to suggest that since the Great Crusade was basically winding down under his leadership as Warmaster, the Imperium was secure enough to resort to diplomacy when it was reasonable to do so.

Of course, the Heresy put paid to any promise this shift in policy might have had.

Peptuck · Post by **Peptuck** » 2007-09-21 02:03am

It really kind of depended on the Primarch, as well. For example, Fulgrim exterminated the Laer not because they were a threat, but that he felt their highly advanced technology was an "affront" to humanity's "perfection."

Ritterin Sophia · Post by **Ritterin Sophia** » 2007-09-22 03:25pm

Peptuck wrote:It really kind of depended on the Primarch, as well. For example, Fulgrim exterminated the Laer not because they were a threat, but that he felt their highly advanced technology was an "affront" to humanity's "perfection."

I think it's a bit of a stretch to blame the Primarchs actions on the Emperors policies when their own personality flaws fit just as well, Fulgrim did become a Slaaneshi Daemon Prince because of his pride you know.

Lost Soal · Post by **Lost Soal** » 2007-09-22 03:35pm

General Schatten wrote:
Peptuck wrote:It really kind of depended on the Primarch, as well. For example, Fulgrim exterminated the Laer not because they were a threat, but that he felt their highly advanced technology was an "affront" to humanity's "perfection."
I think it's a bit of a stretch to blame the Primarchs actions on the Emperors policies when their own personality flaws fit just as well, Fulgrim did become a Slaaneshi Daemon Prince because of his pride you know.

Well technically, Fulgrim got chained up and dumped inside a little box in the warp while a Slaaneshi Daemon Prince took over his body and used it, while on occasions tormenting Fulgrim with what he is doing.

While the Primarchs did have their own flaws and strengths they followed the Emperors policies with their own character interpretations. For example, Lorgar was bringing worlds into the Imperium, its just he believed that the way to do this was through religion.

Post by **Kuja** » 2007-09-23 04:08pm

You know, what would have happened if the Emperor had decided, "fuck it, I'm god" and run with it instead of trying to counter the assertions? Lorgar wouldn't have fallen, Horus likely wouldn't have fallen as a result...fuck, the Imperium might have been a better place if the Emperor HAD declared his divine right instead of trying to make a secular, informed nation-state.

Shit, that's irony for you.

Lost Soal · Post by **Lost Soal** » 2007-09-23 04:19pm

Kuja wrote:You know, what would have happened if the Emperor had decided, "fuck it, I'm god" and run with it instead of trying to counter the assertions? Lorgar wouldn't have fallen, Horus likely wouldn't have fallen as a result...fuck, the Imperium might have been a better place if the Emperor HAD declared his divine right instead of trying to make a secular, informed nation-state.

Shit, that's irony for you.

Lorgar would probably have been loyal, depends on how much influence Typhus had on him. Horus on the other hand, one of the reasons he rebels is his mistaken belief that The Emperor does believe himself a God and wants to asend, as such it will likely result in his rebellion sooner. We also have no idea what effect this would have on those who originally remained loyal.

Post by **Kuja** » 2007-09-23 07:32pm

One of the reasons Horus went batshit was because at the same time things were starting to collapse, he found out about the Lecto Divinatus and believed the Emperor was going to undercut him. That's far from the same as the Emperor openly proclamining himself a god from right off the bat.