# How long did it take for the Emperor to conquer Terra?



## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

Basically I was flipped through "Legion" earlier today and reread how John Grammaticus met the Emperor. He said he met him "close on a thousand years before." At that time, though, "The Emperor had been just another feudal warlord then, leading his thunder-armoured troops in an effort to consolidate his early Strife-age victories, and pave the way to eventual Unification."

Since the events of Legion occurred soon after Horus becoming Warmaster, that'd put it about 200, 210 years after unification. If we assume that John met the Emperor around 950 years ago, then the Emperor took 800-850 years to unify Terra, even after creating the proto-Space Marines?

Seems like an awful long time.

I suppose the Emperor was just bidding his time, waiting for the warp storms to abate?


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## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

I'd attribute that to author error with dates and not thinking it through entirely. Plus we don't know that Grammaticus was telling the truth, or if he was dramatically embellishing. 

I imagine that the conquest of Terra to relatively little time once the Emperor actually decided to do so and was prepared. He was likely waiting a long time, doing all sorts of research and so on. Also he was likely waiting for the warp storms to abate, them clearing being a necessity for commencement of the Great Crusade. 

Does unification also include taking control of the rest of the Solar system? That could add some more time.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Perhaps he was lying. 

It's hard to believe the Emperor would even notice someone as insignificant as Grammaticus (in regards to his claim the Emperor shook his hand and made a remark about how they should chill some time in the future).


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## DeathJester921 (Feb 15, 2009)

Rems said:


> Does unification also include taking control of the rest of the Solar system? That could add some more time.


I'd imagine so. It mentioned in Mechanicum that the Emperor payed a visit to Mars, portrayed himself as the Machine God, and secured the alliance of Mars. He probably visited the other planets of the solar system, if the planets had anyone living on them, to secure their allegiance too. It would add more time, but not much.

As for John? Who knows. Perhaps the Eldar he was with implanted those memories after they brought him back to life the first time. In order to do so, they probably wiped some of his other memories to keep him from figuring out that they tampered with his mind. Its unlikely, because I can't see how that would aid the Eldar in any way.


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## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

It was John just thinking to himself, so I don't think John was lying.

Plus, to my knowledge, unification would have been pretty swift after taking Terra. After all, with Mars backing him from the get-go, it wouldn't have been too tough to steam roll over anything else in the system.


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## Deadeye776 (May 26, 2011)

John wasn't lying if you read the entire passage. He said he felt like a drop of water against an ocean which is allegorical to the Emperor's power. He also says something that I've kind of thought before I read it that even back then the Emperor was a bloodthirsty bastard. It's hard to look at some of the primarchs and think they came from the Emperor. Guys like Angron and Mortarion are out there compared to Dorn and Gulliman. Who knows what the Thunder warriors had to face with the Emperor to conquer earth. There could have been forces arrayed against him that would have come close to giving him a challenge.


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## MEQinc (Dec 12, 2010)

I addition to the seemingly long time _Legion_ suggests it took him to effect unification there's also the early events of _Nemesis_ which show/suggest that Terra isn't all that unified even at the outbreak of the Heresy. Now possibly it's gotten worse since unification but it sorta seems to me that the Emperor did a rush job on Terra, except without the rushing. _The Last Church_ also suggests that the Emperor took his sweet time with Terra. Maybe he was too focused on making the Primarchs, them getting scattered and then making the Marines?


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

_MEQ_ beat me to it, but I was also going to cite _The Last Church_. That particular short suggests that the Emperor took a fair number of years to fully conquer Terra (a long time in comparison to the ~200 years it took the Great Crusade to reuninte tha majority of all human colonies). This probably just goes to show how difficult the task facing the Emperor was, even with the proto-Astartes. The Empire of Ursh was the most prominent opponent of the Emperor during the Unification Wars and they were heavily implied to have employed Chaos magicks (perhaps even daemons), so that might add to the reason why the Emperor took a long time to unify Terra. Also it has to be said that at the time the Emperor was simply another warlord, one amongst many. Conquering Terra was all well and good, but maintaining loyalty and unity was another matter (something which is suggested was never fully achieved). There were also other objectives which needed time to accomplish, the creation of the Primarchs, eradication of religion and promotion of atheism Et cetera.


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

Yea it tooketh the Emprah six fulleth days and on the seventhethetheth day he rested.


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## Davidicus 40k (Jun 4, 2010)

Digg40k said:


> ...on the seventhethetheth day he rested.


I heard he eventually rested in a chair, a throne if you will, but he had trouble getting back up.


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## Chompy Bits (Jun 13, 2010)

Davidicus 40k said:


> I heard he eventually rested in a chair, a throne if you will, but he had trouble getting back up.


Yup, he got killer calf cramps from having to shove his foot so far up his son's ass.

Damn, I just pictured the Emperor as Red Forman.


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## Nicholas Hadrian (Mar 20, 2011)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> _MEQ_ beat me to it, but I was also going to cite _The Last Church_. That particular short suggests that the Emperor took a fair number of years to fully conquer Terra (a long time in comparison to the ~200 years it took the Great Crusade to reuninte tha majority of all human colonies). This probably just goes to show how difficult the task facing the Emperor was, even with the proto-Astartes. The Empire of Ursh was the most prominent opponent of the Emperor during the Unification Wars and they were heavily implied to have employed Chaos magicks (perhaps even daemons), so that might add to the reason why the Emperor took a long time to unify Terra. Also it has to be said that at the time the Emperor was simply another warlord, one amongst many. Conquering Terra was all well and good, but maintaining loyalty and unity was another matter (something which is suggested was never fully achieved). There were also other objectives which needed time to accomplish, the creation of the Primarchs, eradication of religion and promotion of atheism Et cetera.


Hmm.... we need a Unification wars book. Who agrees?


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

Signed


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## g00dd0ct0r (Oct 27, 2011)

i think it took about 67 hrs give or take


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