Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-14745711-20130906234048/@comment-6078851-20140907145857

the emperor might be a perpetual but if so then he doesn't have a clue, my reasoning being that if he knew then he would simply let himself die. once dead he could then do his perpetual thing and be 100% fit and healthy in next to no time - vulkan was beheaded once and he grew a new head within 24 hours. now, granted, upon his death the astronomican goes out, his defence against chaos incursion disappears, and a lot of crap would happen across the imperium, but that would last no more than a single day until emps' gets up, and emps is totally the type of person that would allow such to happen if it meant he could get the imperium back under his direct control and start to fix the mess it's become. then there's the opinion that his corporeal form couldn't contain his throne, warp, and faith increased psyche, but i'm of the opinion that if he were a perpetual then, since perpetuals can't die, his body would have no trouble containing his psychic might. plus his might would be substantially increased were he to rise again: his might increased in proportion to the imperium's belief in his godhood, but if he physically returned then faith in the emperor is going to skyrocket, becoming more potent and adding to his warp increased strength.

if emps knew he was a perpetual then after the fight with horus he wouldn't have bothered, wouldn't have needed, to be interred on the golden throne to use it as a life support system. in fact if emps was a perpetual, even if he didn't know then after that fight it would've become apparent as his body would have started to visibly heal itself before he got hooked up to the throne, at which point it should've also become apparent to emps that he was truly immortal.

given the speed with which perpetuals heal i find it inconcievable that emps could suffer such wounds from horus and not notice that his body was healing, as it would start to heal almost immediately. i do think that being a perpetual is the best chance for emps' rebirth but the more i think on it the more i think that he simply isn't one: his body has been rotting for 10,000 years despite the life support of the throne. some primarchs had attributes that emps didn't and i think being a perpetual is one.