Star Child
From Lexicanum
The Star Child background was introduced in the second of the Realm of Chaos books and referred to later in the 3rd Edition Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook. Much controversy arises out of its continued existence. Some point to the fact that the Cult in the Third Edition Rulebook was found in the Inquisition War Trilogy, meaning that the rulebook, which is supposedly saying that the Star Child lore is refuted, is directly referencing a novel where it is clearly stated it exists. Recently Xenology has had a picture at the end of a tablet, which was supposed to spell out history of the world, which clearly depicted a child, waiting to be born, inside of a star connect by winds of causality to a man whose picture is shown outside of another picture of a man (The Emperor? A man who is above man?) as the end of "known" history. This heavily points to the fact that the lore is still valid4.
The Emperor is the incarnation of the extinct Shamans who, with their prophetic powers and connection to the warp in its natural and uncorrupted form, had guided ancient mankind. After Horus rebelled and destroyed the Emperor's mortal frame, his body and soul could no longer remain as one; his soul melted into the warp, only a tiny core of the Emperor's humanity remaining whole, which was like a small child in a tiny reed boat adrift in the storm of the warp. Since the Emperor's soul survived, there was a possibility that his whole essence could be reborn once more.
In the same way the Shamans died together to reincarnate as the Emperor, the Emperor's death too could herald a new savior. That time would lie far in the future, when mankind's desire for a new savior would strengthen the core of the Emperor's soul and rekindle it to new life.
The soul of the Emperor adrift in the warp is the Star Child. The humans that were left in charge of the Imperium had no real understanding of what had happened to the Emperor. Though the Emperor's body continued to live within the Golden Throne and his mind continued to be a beacon for humanity, his soul is a god waiting to be born.
The Star Child is also suggested as being the compassion which the Emperor cast from himself in order to destroy his most beloved Primarch-son, Horus.1
It is stated in Eye of Terror, a novel by the deceased Barrington J. Bayley, that once the Emperor dies his soul will be freed to go into the warp. Here it will Neutralize the Chaos Gods, causing the physical universe to fight one last bloody conflict against each other for the control of the galaxy.5 This bears similarity to the Rhana Dandra prophecy told by the Eldar.
The Inquisition (particularly the Ordo Malleus) has always been at war with the Sensei, the "Emperor's Sons." In 997.M41, Inquisitor Fortez reports that he and his colleagues Alexio and Credo determined the Temple of the Star Child on Levilnor IV consisted of unwitting pawns of Tzeentch, so they eliminated it.3 However, in the Inquisition War Trilogy the same Cult is eliminated by Jaq Draco and a "fellow Inquisitor", suggesting that in fact this could have been a clever diversion. 1
Sources
- 1Inquisition War Trilogy (Novel Series), Ian Watson, Black Library Publishing
- 2Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness and The Lost and the Damned
- 3Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition Rulebook, p. 272
- 4Xenology, Simon Spurrier, Black Library Publishing
- 5 Eye of Terror, Barrington J. Bayley, Black Library Publishing
