Imperial Truth

The Imperial Truth
Pioneered by the Emperor even before the Great Crusade began, the Imperial Truth is a collection of beliefs centered around a core of scientific thought and secularism. The Emperor himself declared that mankind would never be free to progress and advance to his destined position as pre-eminent being in the galaxy until "the last stone from the last church was cast down onto the last priest." He purged ancient Terra from all religion, even going so far as to personally witness the destruction of the final church on Terra's ancient soil after engaging it's resident holy man in a battle of ideas, wit and dogma. The Imperial Truth was spread to all rediscovered worlds during the Great Crusade, told to the men of he Imperial Army, understood by the Astartes, and spread amoungst the populations of newly discovered and reclaimed worlds by scores of itinerators, a corps of orators of supreme skill and passion. This creed only further strengthened the Great Crusade, lending the Emperor's symbolic support to all scientists, sceptics and thinkers without whom the Emperor's plans hinged. The Emperor needed a New Renaissance to see his dreams of man fulfilled. He needed a new age of science and progressive thought to build upon his martial works, a time when technology and thought would solidify and consolidate the gains he and his warriors had made in acchieving a new place for mankind.

However, it was already under attack before the Horus Heresy even began. A text, proporting the Emperor's divinity was writen by none other than the primarch Lorgar. Lorgar had been raised on a world of priests, worship and divine magesty. He saw his father as a god incarnate, and penned the Lectitio Divinatatus, a book saying that the Emperor was a god deserving of worship. The text spread rapidly through the fleets of the Great Crusade, and recieved more support amoungst the civilians and support personel than with the Imperial officers and Astartes. While this may have been a slow start, bit by bit more people became convinced the Emperor truly was a divine being. The Word Bearers themselves would convert each world they reclaimed to their new faith, which made their progress slow and ultimately lead to their rebuking before the Emperor himself. This surely played some part in Lorgar's corruption and fall, allowing his first captain and chaplain to convert him to the worship of Chaos and the subtle corruption of his legion.

The Imperial Truth slowly died away after the Great Crusade. Without the Emperor's guiding influence, superstition and religion crept back into mankind. It was slowly eroded away, year by year, until the Ecclesiarchy was officially formed, combinding the widespread beliefs into a single, unifying religion that would sweep away the Imperial Truth was false dogma and a decline towards the very things the Emperor had fought against.