True Colors

The God-Emperor did not care what image people had of him. Even if the people of the entire Imperium let their imaginations run wild and piled every beautiful symbol they could think of onto statues of the God-Emperor, he would turn a blind eye and tacitly accept the existence of such faiths. He would not imitate those petty, stingy gods who punished their followers with death over the slightest mistake.

On certain underdeveloped pastoral worlds, people placed crowns of harvested wheat upon the God-Emperor's head, praying to him for another bountiful harvest the following year.

Praying for a harvest was one thing, but some people even came before his statues to beg for lively, healthy children.

That was not originally within his domain. It was Nurgle's domain. Yet with so many people praying for it, their faith accumulated within the God-Emperor, allowing him to manage such matters to some extent.

For instance, he could send down a sweet rain to ease a planet's drought. As for having children, the God-Emperor declared himself helpless. After all, his own children had been made through genetic engineering.

On other, more barbaric recruiting worlds, statues of the God-Emperor took on savage characteristics. Holding an enormous greatsword was considered perfectly normal; the troubling part was when the statue's feet were piled high with skulls.

The God-Emperor coldly watched the crowds kneeling before the statue. They reverently presented a bowl of clean blood, heated it to a boil with thick holy candles, then poured it over the skulls heaped beneath the statue.

"May the mighty and fearless God-Emperor bless us with victory in war!"

At times like this, the God-Emperor would usually sigh and turn his gaze toward an Ecclesiarchy church, hoping to see something normal—only to find Death Cult assassins stealthily piling bleeding heads before