Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-6078851-20130130174042/@comment-6134883-20130318151521

Matt, I kind of doubt Emps was human enough by that point to comprehend the need for emotional nurturance and provide for it. He clearly thought physical and intellectual maturity were enough and it was a good idea to achieve both as quickly as possible. The results do NOT bear him out. The most stable Primarchs were the ones who were lucky enough to have affectionate and supportive Father-substitutes. Logar and the Lion and Dorn (I think) all demonstrate how much those foster fathers meant to them. To be fair to Emps there is evidence that he did take time and trouble to connect with and  guide his first found son Horus. And maybe he didn't do all that bad a job of it but presenting him afterwards with nineteen kid brothers and rivals seems to hurt their relationship as Horus felt he had to fight to keep 'first place' with Dad.

I get the impression from the Heresy novels that the rejection and erasure of the the Lost Primarchs from Imperial history had a horrific effect on the remaining sons. After that Sanguinus was afraid to tell Dad about his problems for fear of being similarly cast into outer darkness and he wasn't the only one. They'd seen their father turn against two of his sons - what was to prevent him from doing it again?

As for Emps himself. Maybe I'm wrong but I see him as being much more Human and in touch with normal people during his long millenia working behind the scenes. He would have HAD to be to successful guide them. Poor Emps. There was probably a brief moment (by his standards) sometime during the Age of Technology when he thought he'd done it. That he'd brough humanity to a good place and it would be smooth sailing from there on in. Then of course it all goes crash.

Coming out into the open didn't change what the Emperor had always been but it changed the way people reacted to him and treated him. Increasing distance was inevitable - and apparently a slow loss of his humanity.