Sensei and the Starchild Theory (WH40K)

[Stravo]

I was doing some reading on the God Emperor and stumbled across this faction known as the Sensei whom are physical descendants of the Emperor (not engineered like the Primarchs) and they have vast psychic powers, immortal, etc that go around righting wrongs and combating enemies of the Imperium. It smacks a little of superheroes and would seem to go against the grain of the 40kverse setting in terms of tone. If you were in fact a descendant of the Emperor you are the son of a god, wouldn't that make you someone worthy of reverence in the Imperium? Wouldn't you be hidden away in Inquisitorial fortresses or on Holy Terra as a living relic? Is any of this concept considered canon?

And the Starchild Theory sounds right to me - by the Starchild theory I mean the thought that the Emperor of Man is really a nascent Warp God and in time he too will take his place amongst the other Warp powers like Khorne and Slaanesh. If the Eldar are currently trying to create a god and the other factions have their gods why not humanity who have spread farther and are more powerful than any other group and have the most powerful psyker in history slumbering among them. Is the Golden Throne a trap? Is humanity keeping the Emperor from ascending - that is if you buy into the theory. And even scarier thought, with the birth of Slaanesh as a precedent would humanity WANT him to ascend if the price is another Eye of Terror in the heart of human space.

[NecronLord]

Both concepts were completely, solidly, 110% canonical.

As of 1993. It's been phased out now, as they've tried to pile on more and more gothic darkness. The third edition space marine codex made reference to the Inquisition purging a large group of Sensei and pursuing the survivors. The Sensei have never been conclusively written out, and thus probably do still exist, unlike, say, Squats. But good luck getting GW to talk about it. They occupy the same canonical-limbo as Slaan (though the Slaan were shown in the last core book) Vampires, and other whacky shit. In that they can be safely considered to still exist in universe, but they're sure not going to get army lists, novels, or any elaboration any time soon.

As for why they're worshipped; The Emperor didn't know that his children were immortal, and generally deserted his families before they died of age. Consquently, most Inquisitors and Cardinals and such would scream that it's all lies if you told them of the Sensei, and immediately put you in a penitent engine.

Same with the Star Child; an entity born of the goodness the Emperor was forced to expunge from his psyche when he destroyed his favourite son. Though the new Horus Heresy books suggest that worshipping the Emperor had concrete effects even before he was all gross and corpsified. So, it's possible an actual retcon for the details of the Star Child concept may be lurching our way.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Xenology pretty much says as much. There's quite a bit on the various Old Ones-created races and their mythologies, including a tablet with a picture of the star child as well as the god of the Harlequins. I may need to read it closer, but I got the impression that the Emperor/Starchild was going to be related to the new god that the Eldar are creating in the webway. The Slanni also seem to be canon still.

As far as I know, the Inquisition War still holds in its portrayal of the sensei/Emperor plot. It's probably never going to be heard from again, though, unless the timeline moves forward into M42.
The Illuminati, on the other hand, may be going the way of the zoats, Genestealer magos and Tyranid Ambassadors.

We'll just have to wait and see if they're mentioned in the upcoming Inquisition reference book.

[white_rabbit]

Genestealer magos

Um, these guys haven't gone anywhere....

[Lost Soal]

Genestealer magos

Um, these guys haven't gone anywhere....

He may mean the Patriarch which has seemingly been retconned slightly into the broodlords.

An inquisitorial report about the purging of the Sensei is also in the 4th Ed rulebook so they seem to be keeping them in mind. I would guess that if they are to be kept a presence they will have a mention in the upcomng inquisition source book, same as the star child.

[white_rabbit]

He may mean the Patriarch which has seemingly been retconned slightly into the broodlords.

Meh, even thats a little iffy.

Broodlord, lean mean killing machine, more like a Hive tyrant to a Warrior.

Patriarch. monstrously huge, often grossly fat, Purestrain genestealer, some examples of which look like they could take on a Carnifex and win.

[andrewgpaul]

The Genestealer Cults haven't so much been got rid of as ignored. To be honest, they've not really been featured since RT days, apart from the appendix army list at the back of 2nd ed. Codex: Tyranids. They don't get any 'screen time', but there's nothing in fluff now to contradict their existence.

[NecronLord]

The broodlord doesn't seem to be equivalent to a patriarch. In one of the Cain books, Amberly uses the phrase to reffer to a Patriarch, but that's about it. Of course, it might be possible for a broodlord to become a patriarch of a cult in some circumstances...

[Luzifer's right hand]

The Genestealer Cults haven't so much been got rid of as ignored. To be honest, they've not really been featured since RT days, apart from the appendix army list at the back of 2nd ed. Codex: Tyranids. They don't get any 'screen time', but there's nothing in fluff now to contradict their existence.

What do you understand under "fluff", these cults play an important role in two Ciaphas Cain books.

[white_rabbit]

The Genestealer Cults haven't so much been got rid of as ignored. To be honest, they've not really been featured since RT days, apart from the appendix army list at the back of 2nd ed. Codex: Tyranids. They don't get any 'screen time', but there's nothing in fluff now to contradict their existence.

As mentioned,Ciaphas Cain books, multiple comic strips, one entire graphic novel, multiple short stories, including a novella.

About the only thing that works with what you just said is Cults worshipping chaos as part of their tactics, and half the illustrations of Genestealer cults reproduced still have references

[Gunhead]

If going really down the Machiavellian road, there's no need for the emperor.
All you need is that people believe in the emperor and maintain the facade that he's alive and in charge.

There's no concrete proof that the emperor of man is a) alive b) able to transform into an entity that exists purely in the warp.

That said, as the wielders of true power, meaning the high lords of terra (by emperors grace), have little need for people who claim direct lineage to the emperor. In fact to maintain power they just might persecute them or even anyone claiming to be one. People who can even appear to be direct descendants of the emperor could face the wrath of the high lords just on the notion that they are too dangerous to live.

-Gunhead

[NecronLord]

* Menaces Gunhead with his copy of Draco *

Of course, that's (possibly) a tissue of lies.

[Spearfish]

There's no concrete proof that the emperor of man is a) alive b) able to transform into an entity that exists purely in the warp.

Would the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath be any kind of, if not proof then strong evidence for his continued influence? A massive warpstorm appearing in the right time and place to devour an entire renegade fleet could just be a rather big coincidence, but not a likely ont I'd have thought.

[Xon]

Would the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath be any kind of, if not proof then strong evidence for his continued influence? A massive warpstorm appearing in the right time and place to devour an entire renegade fleet could just be a rather big coincidence, but not a likely ont I'd have thought.

It is just as plausable for the Eldar to have moved a pebble 2 centimeters to the right somewhere to cause a hidiously convoluted chain of events to insure that the renegade fleet would be in the right spot to be annihilated by a warp storm they saw coming a few tens of thousands of years in advanced.

Just to preserve the Eldar's largets meat shield.

[Connor MacLeod]

The Starchild and Sensei: Given the Inquisition War novels (assuming they're not a "tissue of lies" as NL mentions), we can probably write off a good deal of that off as an "Eldar plot" or something they believed. There probably WERE immortal sons or some sort of beings that carried some of the Emperor's power, though between the Eldar's recruiting (And possible sacrifice of) and the purging by the Inquisition, they're all either in hiding/unaware of their natures or dead by now.

The Illuminati are a particular Eldar plot as well, and would have been eliminated if found by the Inquisition (since they'd be traitors by definition.) I also vaguely recall some bit about the Illuminati being a plot by Tzeentch or something, so they might have been corrupted/destroyed. Or maybe they ran off with the Eldar.

I'm sure one could argue the "Starchild' concept is still viable in some form or another - since it was largely "theoretical/speculative" and somewhat mythical by its definition it wouldn't take much to say it was misrepresented or mistaken.

In-universe, the Sensei and Illuminti still probably exist in some form like the Squats probably could (Squats IIRC served in Guard regiments and traveled pretty extensively through the Imperium, if I remember Grimm from the Inquisition War novels.), but as an independent, going concern (or as something that would show up in "modern" 40K games or army lists) they are pretty much dead (like the Squat home worlds, or so I hear.)

As for the Emperor "living", I suppose that depends on what you call "life". The fact that the Astronomicon is still going and we've been given no information to suggest its a hoax perpetuated by the High Lords, and that Psykers are still getting soul bound/sacrificed to said GEoM, he's still probably alive in SOME fashion. Whether or not he's active in the galaxy probably will depend on the source you cite: in alot of novels (Gaunt's Ghosts, Execution hour) there's plenty of evidence of his supposed influence in the galaxy/Imperium, and IIRC Eye of Terror joins the Inquisition War novels in painting the Emperor as taking an active hand in the galaxy.

Add to that past recollections of the "current" GEom theory being that he's fighting the Chaos Gods to prevent them from getting into realspace, ,with the Chaos Gods being afraid that if the GEoM dies he'll become more powerful and kill them, etc. etc... he probably is still "running" things, although in a different way than he was prior to the Horus Heresy.

[andrewgpaul]

The Genestealer Cults haven't so much been got rid of as ignored. To be honest, they've not really been featured since RT days, apart from the appendix army list at the back of 2nd ed. Codex: Tyranids. They don't get any 'screen time', but there's nothing in fluff now to contradict their existence.

As mentioned,Ciaphas Cain books, multiple comic strips, one entire graphic novel, multiple short stories, including a novella.

About the only thing that works with what you just said is Cults worshipping chaos as part of their tactics, and half the illustrations of Genestealer cults reproduced still have references

Never read the Cain novels; never seen them for sale round here. As for the others, what are you referring to? Do you mean these sources mention 'stealer cults, or contradict their existence?

[Duckie]

Never read the Cain novels; never seen them for sale round here. As for the others, what are you referring to? Do you mean these sources mention 'stealer cults, or contradict their existence?

At least one cult of genestealers appears in the Cain books (I have not read all of them), and it even shows a fat, bloated Patriarch (albeit a deadly one) as the father in a patrimony-type sense (rather than in a leader-sense) of the cult.

[Academia Nut]

Specifically, the books For the Emperor and Duty Calls would have no plots without genestealer cults, FTE revolving around the activities of a cult while DC was more a cult attracting the attention of a hive fleet while some other stuff happened. Still, these are two books, the latter of which came out this year, in which genestealer cults are integral to the plot.

Also, if I may add, Cain is getting funnier with each book I think. Soylens veridens, florn cakes, and his duelling instructing being named Miyamoto de Bergerac, to name a few.

[white_rabbit]

The Genestealer Cults haven't so much been got rid of as ignored. To be honest, they've not really been featured since RT days, apart from the appendix army list at the back of 2nd ed. Codex: Tyranids. They don't get any 'screen time', but there's nothing in fluff now to contradict their existence.

As mentioned,Ciaphas Cain books, multiple comic strips, one entire graphic novel, multiple short stories, including a novella.

About the only thing that works with what you just said is Cults worshipping chaos as part of their tactics, and half the illustrations of Genestealer cults reproduced still have references

Never read the Cain novels; never seen them for sale round here. As for the others, what are you referring to? Do you mean these sources mention 'stealer cults, or contradict their existence?

I mean if the classic Genestealer Cults weren't around, then I must have dreamed about all those things with them in

[Connor MacLeod]

Genestealers are in the Inquisition war novels too, though I think they were mysteriously absent from "Warriors of Ultamar")

And is it me or have the role/image of Commissar's in 40K changed? In earlier sourcees they seemed less executioner assholes and more hardcore inspirational figures.

[Imperial Overlord]

They've been both inspirational figures and hard core executioners as long as I can remember them.

[white_rabbit]

Yeah, its pretty much both. You can find examples from all eras of both types.