Warhammer 40K: The Imperial Lie – The Emperor’s Greatest Sin
Let us talk about how the Imperial Truth was a lie all along.
The Immortal Emperor of Mankind had a plan, or so he claimed. First would come Unification and an end to the war on Terra. Then the Great Crusade would spread His Imperium across the stars. Uniting the far-flung children of Old Earth under one banner, His banner. United humanity would then break the Xenos threats and, under His dominion, open the hidden secrets of the Webway and evolve into a fully psychic race, one safe from both Xenos and Chaos threats. One of the core pillars of this plan was the Imperial Truth, a creed that would replace religion and guide the new Imperium. Yet here lay a seed of darkness in the heart of the Emperor’s golden light, for the Imperial Truth was a grand lie.
What is The Imperial Truth
To understand the lie, we must first understand what the Imperial Truth was and why it was important. When the Emperor cast down the genelords and techno-barbarian chiefs of the Age of Strife, he not only sought to replace their myriad banners with His own Eagle and Thunderbolt but to change the way people thought. The old superstitions and religions of Terra, some dating back to our current years, others much newer and still others of a… chaotic nature, would also be replaced with His new way of thinking. The Imperial Truth “was the rational, atheist philosophy that guided the Emperor’s conquest of Old Earth and the formation of the Imperium through the Great Crusade.”1
The Imperial Truth is, in essence, a rejection of superstition and a belief that the universe is rational and that everything is explainable through science. It rejected all prior religions and religious practices, though the forms of religious practices would continue in things like the Oath of Moment. It espoused the idea that knowledge could beat the unknown and conquer fear. Terms such as “sorcery” would be disavowed, and rational explanations were devised for all things.
Under the Imperial Truth Daemons, the Neverborn were not evil spirits bent on the destruction of humankind but simple Xenos lifeforms living in another dimension. They bore no connection to the demons of old abandoned human religion. Indeed any idea that these Xenos forms were organized, or had plans, or even real sentience, let alone the ability to cross over to the material world, was denied. Mutants and pyskers existed, of course, as an explainable and rational fact, and all could be codified. Perhaps most importantly, The Immortal Emperor was not a god, but merely the peak of human perfection.
On the face of it, the Imperial Truth appears to be a belief that drives scientific achievement and leaves no room for superstition. Adopting it should have lead to the creation of a rationalist utopia free of the notions that had plagued humankind throughout Old Night. It was with this in mind that the philosophy was forcibly spread across the Imperial domains, with old religious sites razed and the followers of the old ways purged. The Imperial Truth would bring a bright future, it was said.
The First Lie
When Horus Lupercal raised his taloned hand in anger against his father’s Imperium and sought to bring down all His works, the great lie at the heart of the Imperial Truth was revealed. This secret, known by some already, was soon laid bare to all. It was, simply put, that universe is not an entirely rational place. There are gods that lurk in the darkness beyond the stars, and they are not benevolent. The beings dismissed as simple xenos from another dimension, are in fact, beings of great intelligence and even more malice. In short, the true nature of the warp, and those beings that dwell within it was purposefully suppressed and kept form all but a select few. Even those closest to the Emperor, His sons, the leaders of His armies, were, for the most part, remained in the dark and purposefully deluded as to both the nature of the galaxy and their own nature.
For indeed, it was not just the nature of the Warp that was kept from all, but humanity’s ties to it. The existence of what we might call a soul was denied under the Imperial Truth, yet such a thing seems to exist. The Emperor’s connection, and warp-born powers, were hidden. So were the relationships that His sons, the Primarchs, had with the warp. All of this was hidden, perhaps for very good reason.
A Good Lie?
When pressed, the Emperor and His servant Malcador would claim that they had a good reason for the lie at the heart of the Imperial Truth. Indeed He must have had some reason for “to suppress their [deamons] nature rather than to educate His subjects, to deny enlightenment in the Age of Enlightenment cannot have been a path lightly trod” 2. The defenders of the Emperor would claim that knowledge of the Empyrean and its denizens would only empower the Neverborn. That ignorance, in this case, was not only bliss but a defense – a shield to protect His subjects.
It is so claimed by these same people, that educating His subjects, and in particular the Primarchs, would not have prevented the dire fate that befell the Imperium but would have only caused it sooner, and perhaps worse. By suppressing knowledge of the Dark Gods and Daemons, He prevented worship of them and sought to weaken them until His plan came to fruition. Thus the great Lie was necessary, at least for a time. Though His gamble failed, it came within a razor edge of succeeding.
The Deeper Lie
While many have taken this explanation for the Great Lie as truth, a detailed look at the facts around the Imperial Truth shows that even this explanation is a lie. Indeed it seems likely that the whole Imperial Truth was never as core to the Emperor’s goals as believed, and the Great Lie was likely not necessary, at least not in the way we were told. Let us first take a look at the enforcement of the Imperial Truth.
Enforcement? What Enforcement?
We are told that the Imperial Truth was enforced across all of the Imperium, often with force. The Imperial Truth was imperative to the Emperor’s plans that all citizens of the Imperium follow it. Old superstitions had to be wiped away. The worship of the gods had to be abandoned. Any hint of the Chaotic expunged less the dark powers be given strength. With such high stakes, one would think that the Truth would be enforced with great vigor across the Imperium. And yet we don’t see that being the case.
We see again and again during the Heresy and the Crusade. Local legends, religions, and superstitions have been allowed to remain, and even flourish. Take Fenris, for example, a world the Emperor called “A charming experiment in reconstructed mythologies”3. Where was the Imperial Truth for the savage residents of this world? No attempts were made to stifle their religion or superstitions, despite the fact that Fenris contains a literal portal to the Warp that its inhabitants are not only aware of but use 4.
While Monarchia burned for Lorgar’s violation of the Imperial Truth, and Magnus was censored for his at Nikea, the sons of Fenris and Chogoris were allowed to keep their old religions and superstitions and transport them to the stars. Their knowledge of the Warp, cloaked in prayer and mysticism was not, for no accountable reason, seen as dangerous or to be curtailed like the others were. Where was the need to keep the dark secrets here?
We see the same slipshod approach to enforcement of the Imperial Truth again and again. In The Master of Mankind, when the Black Ships are sent out to gather sacrifices for the Golden Throne, we see them gather in shamans and mystics. Pyskers allowed to roam free and unchecked seeped in their own mysticism and superstition. No attempt seems to have been made to impart the Imperial Truth on them. The Truth says that there is no magic, no souls, and yet when the ships arrive the people they are dealing with know what is happening: “A tithe. Another tithe. One of souls and magic, not wheat and grain”5. Note, these are not hidden cults; they worship their witch-priestess in the open, and the Black Ships have no trouble finding them.
Speaking of hidden cults, however, the Imperium seems rather horrible at weeding them out as well. One might, for instance, forgive these other expectations as they seem to exist on backwater barely civilized worlds. Maybe the Imperial Truth is better represented on more populous worlds advanced worlds? Well, that doesn’t always seem to be the case, at least if we take Molech as an example. This world, one of utmost importance the Emperor himself, again sees only light enforcement of the Imperial Truth. The local legends and superstitions around their old religion and worship of “The Lord of Storms” (secretly the Emperor) are not particularly suppressed, and while the Churches and fanes of Terra were burned down, the pilgrimage sites of Molech were allowed to survive intact.
More damming is the existence of the Serpent Cult, an actual cult, somewhat unknowingly to Slaneesh that a large number of the higher aristocracy belong too. That this cult, on a world that the Emperor seemingly felt was vital, that He left a rare perpetual behind to protect was allowed to survive and flourish casts into doubt both the Imperiums commitment to the Imperial Truth and the possibility that it ever could have worked. Nor was Molech a backwater, millions of Imperial troops occupied the world, ready to enforce His will, yet never being ordered to do so.
The Martian Mechanicum
There can be no clearer sign of how poorly the Imperial Truth was enforced than in the continued survival of the Martian Mechanicum. In an age of rational thought, the Mechanicum was anathema to everything the Imperial Truth stood for. Here were worshipers of a strange god, Tech-Priests, not scientists. Lovers of the occult and superstitions, praying and cloaking their own ignorance in inscrutable religious zealotry. They may have sought knowledge but to horde it, not to enlighten humanity.
This contradiction did not go unnoticed. Terran scientists, such as Ezekiel Sedayne, dislike the Mechanicum for this very reason. This was made clear in a conversation between Sedayne’s aide Altrix Herminia and Belisarius Cawl:
“The woman gave him a hard look. ‘The Cult Mechanicus,’ she shook her head. ‘Ther Emperor should never had thrown in His lot with your kind. You are anathema to the Imperial Truth. Gods. Worship of knowledge. Insanity.’
She resumed walking.
‘Without our knowledge none of your warriors’ enhancements would be possible! said Cawl. He waved his hand at the woman’s guards. ‘Our veneration of the Mechine-God’s truths has preserved His gifts.’
She stopped again.
Advertisement‘Science made my warriors,’ she said. ‘Not superstition. Not praying to a non-existent god. Not singing to anything. I am a scientist. You are a witch doctor.’
…
‘I think you’re a threat to the Imperium,’ she said. ‘There has never been and never will be a true religion, except that followed by the Great Enemy, and that is not only evil to the root, it is predicated on a billion lies.’ She didn’t address them, but shouted forwards, as if she couldn’t even bring herself to look at the tech-priests. ‘Yet we rationalist dwindle, while your kind prospers. The inclusion of the Adeptus Mechanicus on the Council of Terra is the death knell for reason.'”6
Given the state of the Imperium by M41, it’s hard not to feel like Herminia’s fears were well-founded, and indeed Cawl himself seems to agree with them to a degree. Regardless of Cawl’s assessment, it’s clear that the Mechanicus gets a free pass from having to follow the tenets of the Imperial Truth. There seems to be little attempt to every bring them into line, and the massive Empire they control being free of the Imperial Truth seems to undermine the whole process. Why the Emperor favors and promotes the Mechanicus over the rationalist scientists of Terra and other worlds, ones who follow the Imperial Truth, is not clear. Still, it is apparent that this move, from scientists being in favor to “witch doctors” being in favor started well before the Great Crusade itself.
Now one might argue that the Mechanicus was a necessary exemption. That the Emperor simply lacked the power to break them to His will and bring them in line. He needed their allegiance and made a practical call to play on their superstitions to do so. This may be the case, however that the Imperial Truth was seen as something optional, able to be ignored if it was expedient, argues that it was less important then we have been told. If the whole massive edifice of Mars could be allowed to buck the truth, why could the Primarchs not be told?
Why Lie
Why.
So we come down to it here. The Imperial Truth not only held a lie within it but was itself in many ways a lie. It was never really enforced nor seemingly necessary. Ultimately it may have done more harm than good. It not only left the Imperium’s defenders unable to effectively resist the forces of Chaos, but it may have kicked off the whole Heresy. Jaghatai Kahn mused upon returning to Terra that, “It was the knowledge that the Emperor had concealed His true purpose from His favored son that led to Horus’s downfall. In Horus’s mind, the suspicion took root that he may not have been his father’s favorite; after all, my brother Magnus knew more of the Warp and Corax more of the darkness within Mankind. This must be what broke Horus; will.'”7
The Lies of the Imperial Truth thus had grave consequences. That being so, why did the Emperor lie. We’ve seen that it wasn’t because the Truth was wholly true, though it contained elements of truth. We’ve also noticed that it wasn’t because it was imperative that everyone believes the lie since the Truth was poorly enforced and a great many people saw beyond the veil or were allowed some version of religion. Nor did ignorance prove any real protection. Millions and billions of people who did not know Chaos or the Warp still fell prey to its powers.
We likely can’t know the full reasons behind the Emperor’s actions, and a look at all. His plans is beyond the scope of this article. However, we might guess that the Imperial Truth was created not to blind all of humankind, but a particular and Chosen group of humans. The Imperial Truth was most heavily enforced it seems among the citizens of Terra, large parts of the Imperial Army, and among the most of the Space Marines and their Primarchs. It was indeed those most responsible for starting the Heresy the Emperor worked the hardest to keep in the dark. If His goal was to prevent them from falling to darkness by keeping them ignorant that plan backfired spectacularly, if that was His plan, perhaps, just maybe, everything went according to His design. Ah, but that’s a story for another time.
For now just remember, that not all Truths are the truth.
- Forgeworld. The Horus Heresy Book Eight- Malevolence. (Nottingham: Games Workshop Limited, 2019), pg. 10
- ibis , pg. 11
- Guy Haley. The Horus Heresy: Wolfsbane, the Wyrd Spear Cast. (Nottingham: Black Library, 2018), pg. 13
- ibis, pg. 170
- Aaron Dembski-Bowden. The Master of Mankind, War in the Webway. (Nottingham: Black Library, 2016), pgs. 90
- Guy Haley. Belisarius Cawl, the Great Work. (Nottingham: Black Library, 2019, pgs. 121-122
- Forgeworld. The Horus Heresy Book Eight- Malevolence. (Nottingham: Games Workshop Limited, 2019), pg. 10
