Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-25618639-20150604030859/@comment-25177957-20150604103739

As happy as that ending sounds, it's extremely unlikely, let's highlight several problems with that theory:

1. The Primarchs were to be shoved into a series of apartments on Terra designed for each of the 20 primarchs (read the primarchs page), and this wouldn't go over too well since the warlike primarchs (which most primarchs were) would not be content to simply sit around doing nothing as regular humans ruled the Imperium. Chaos would still find a crack to seep in, and several of the primarchs would rebel and the Imperium might not survive a rebelion of the most internal type at all. The primarchs would also not agree to be tucked away as tools to be pulled out at another time. In the minds of the Primarchs, they should have been the ones ruling the Imperium at the side of the Emperor with all mortals being slaves and underlings to them and their legions.

2. The Imperial Truth was already failing mid-Great Crusade, especially due to the Emperor-worship spread by Lorgar, not to mention anyone who has seen the Emperor, or even heard a simple tale about the "God in Golden Armour" would believe that the Emperor was indeed a God. If the Imperium had been victiorious in the Great Crusade, the Inquisition would not even exist, because the Emperor and Malcador only realized the need for it once the Horus Heresy began to ignite the galaxy. In the case of this alternate history, no threats would require the need for any Inquisitorial agency.

3. The Emperor had little tolerance for anyone outside of himself, Malcador, and a few select trusted individuals to wield psychic powers, thus explains why he had the Sisters of Silence, who were witch hunters. I doubt there would be any "understanding" within the Imperium for psychic powers. As far as ancient technology from the Dark Age of Technology goes, there's no way the Imperium could hold itself together if they found something extraordinary, the Mechanicus would do anything to obtain the archaeotech before the Imperium did.

4. I don't even think the Imperium would survive long enough to meet the Tyranids in this case, a common Imperial saying "The blood of the martyr is the seed of the Imperium" implies that only through strife and total galactic war is the Imperium still united and functional. Without any enemies to face, the Imperium would collapse possibly out of simple boredom.

Let's not forget that the Emperor himself also knew hundreds of years before that his Great Crusade would not fully succeed. He initiated the Great Crusade regardless since it was nessesary to prevent humanity from dying due to basic Anarchy.