The Illuminati from Slaves to Darkness

THE ILLUMINATI

The Emperor is the shield and saviour of Humanity. He has sat, held immobile, within the Golden Throne for ten thousand years, sustained by the sacrifice of countless millions. His mind is the Astronomican-beacon for spacecraft; his will binds the Imperium together and guides his followers through the Emperor's Tarot; he is god and father to his race. His will is devoted the protection of Humanity from itself, and to nurturing the race until the dangerous transition to a psychic species has been completed.

And the Emperor's power is weakening. His mind, so long the bastion of Humanity against the horrors of the warp, is failing. His once indivisible will is fragmenting; parts of his psyche are at war; independent thoughts and feelings arise within his mind, emerging from the whirls and splits of his age-old personality. His conscious mind is still in control but, year by year, his dreams and visions of the warp grow a little clearer. The seduction of Chaos, a surrender of the rest and ease, is a little stronger each century. The good intentions have been soured by the practicalities of Imperial power; guilt and shame for past decisions grows over the centuries. And Mankind remains as stubborn as ever and turns to Chaos, despite the best efforts of the Emperor and his servants.

The Emperor can see the peril that is coming. There will be a time when he has deteriorated to such a point that he can no longer continue, even sustained by the power of a million psykers. His mind will break completely and his self-imposed task as Humanity's guide will have been in vain. The emerging race of Psychic Man will fall to Chaos.

The Emperor's foreboding are shared. Others know of the end of the Emperor and Mankind, of the terrors that lurk in warpspace, waiting for the moment of Man's weakness; these are the Illuminati. They have seen the nature of Chaos at first hand. The Illuminati are marked by a single common experience; they have been possessed by Daemons.

When entering the mortal universe Daemons need physical form, a host - or more common than not - victims. The host body usually dies both in mind and physically. But there are some that escape, either by fluke or sheer force of will. These people have been able to withstand the possession and cast the Daemon out, taking control of his own body once more.

The Illuminati know of Chaos - the seductive charms, the easy lure of power - and they have seen its dark underside; the suffering, mutation and madness that are its true gifts. They have had the most intimate of contact with Chaos; sharing a mind with one of its servants.

To many, the Illuminati are mad, scarred and twisted by their experiences, brought to a level of bitter cynicism that has no equal. The Illuminati see themselves in a different light. They have become the ultimate realists, aware of the terrible nature of the universe they inhabit. They have survived Chaos, and achieved a balance that eluded the Eldar. They have mastered the Chaos within themselves and now oppose Chaos in the broader universe.

Because of the this, the Illuminati are some of the few allowed access to the Black Library of the Eldar. The knowledge they gain from their researches is jealously guarded. The Illuminati have become the most secret of secret societies, standing above and beyond the Emperor. They manipulate and interpret the Imperial Will to bring about their objectives. They are close-mouthed to such degree that an Inquisitor-Illuminati would torture a brother Illuminati to death to preserve their shared secret - and that brother would go willing to his death in such circumstances. For the Illuminati, the ends - the preservation of Mankind - justify any means, up to and including the destruction of the Emperor and the Imperium.

The Illuminati know of the fall of the Eldar, and seek to prevent the same thing happening to Mankind. They know that if the rise of Chaos overtakes Humanity's maturity as a psychic species the universe will be at an end. The fall of the Eldar rocked warpspace and reality; real space and the warp were momentarily bent out of shape by the Eldar-Slaanesh union. The fall of such a numerous, vigorous race as Man could bring about the complete merging of the two dimensions. In such a new, radically altered warp-reality, Chaos would be in the ascendancy. Mankind would perish, and a new warp Power would arise.

This is the future that the Illuminati seek to thwart, and in doing this they mean to rejuvenate the Emperor.

The Sensei are directly descended from the Emperor and have their own part to play in the future of Mankind. They will have a direct role as they are immortal. The Illuminati have an altogether different interest in them. Mankind will fall unless the Emperor is renewed; therefore the Illuminati are manipulating events to a point where this can happen. The Illuminati, their own existence carefully shrouded in mystery, have sought out and protected the Sensei, even helping the Sensei establish their secret 'Long Watch' of Sensei Knights who will fight in the 'last battle against Chaos'.

But the Sensei have been duped. There is to be no Armageddon, no Ragnarok, no last battle fought against the forces of Chaos. At the moment the Emperor's will breaks, the Illuminati will offer up the remaining Sensei in a sacrifice to the Golden Throne of Earth. The Emperor and the Sensei will be united, in just the same manner as the Emperor has absorbed countless psykers. The new, evolved Sensei-Emperor, father and sons, will arise to protect and lead Mankind. Such is the plan of the Illuminati.

The Emperor must never learn of the Illuminati's existence or plans, for pre-knowledge could easily result in his premature abdication of power. If Humanity is to be saved by the Illuminati scheme, the Emperor may see no reason to continue. Likewise, the Sensei, unaware of their heritage and destiny, must never learn the truth, or they may be unwilling to meet their appointed fate.