by Kurgan » Monday January 31st, 2022 1:21pm
[nitpick - the proper term would be "virgin birth" but that's not the main point here]
I'm sure the explanation is going to be that the contradictory, confusing stories about the Emperor in various editions of the game are meant to reflect the "truth" that he's a legendary figure. So Chuck Norris gets stronger, William Wallace is 10 feet tall, etc.
I'm most curious what he was in 1990 when Space Crusade was made. As with the "loosely set in the same universe" minimalist controversy over Warhammer Fantasy and HeroQuest, it appears that Space Crusade sidesteps the issue. So either the space marines and eldar you play as in SC either don't know what's really going on, it simply contradicts the WH4K0 explanation current at the time, or just ignores it, allowing the players to fill in with their imagination (or not). But it seems like if it is set in the "present" of WH40, then the Emperor should be a mummy strapped to a chair with an energy beam bouncing off his skull, and the real power in the Empire is elsewhere, the rest being superstitions held by his soldiers.
But for a minute I thought maybe the wiki page was based on something, like the Emperor was still alive at the time of that game's release in the universe's shared "present", but that seems not to be the case.
I contacted Stephen Baker about it and he replied basically while its connected in similar ways (as HeroQuest was to Warhammer Fantasy), its deliberately kept vague. So I suppose you could add that bit of trivia to your Space Crusade campaign or something else entirely if you want.