Golden Throne - In the 41st Millennium: Following the Emperor's mortal wounding by the Warmaster Horus at the end of the Horus Heresy, His ravaged body was placed within the Golden Throne, after further rapid modifications accomplished at the direction of Rogal Dorn in order to prevent His death.Acting as a complex life support machine, the Golden Throne now holds the dessicated and slowly decaying body of the Emperor in stasis, and preserves His mind and will, which originates and guides the psychic beacon that is the Astronomican within the Warp.He is also said to constantly struggle to keep the forces of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos at bay so that Humanity can flourish even to the extent that it has in the galaxy.It is not known whether the Emperor's ability to protect individual Human beings from the powers of Chaos is related to the destroyed Terran portal into the Imperial Webway or to the arcane device at the heart of the Golden Throne itself.It may instead be that, like the Ruinous Powers themselves, who were created and given form in the Warp through the collective psychic beliefs and fears of Humanity and the other sentient races of the galaxy, Humanity's collective faith in the Emperor has empowered His spirit within the Warp. It also allows this power to be drawn on by those people whose faith in the Master of Mankind as a divine being is unusually strong.The Golden Throne is seen by a very rare few of the Emperor's servants. In fact, the majority of the people who see the Golden Throne are either about to have their life force absorbed into the machine's mechanisms, or are the elite core of the Adeptus Custodes, the Emperor's Companions and bodyguards. The Custodes are bio-engineered transhuman warriors like the Space Marines, but their bodies have been altered to a much greater extent and these warriors are even more powerful than the average Astartes. As the Emperor's personal guards, the Custodes protect His revered but decaying body.The Astronomican requires the sacrifice of large numbers of psykers daily for it to continue to function, and also for the Emperor to be kept alive on the Golden Throne. The Throne is maintained by members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, although as time passes the duty becomes increasingly difficult.It was revealed in the time after the end of the 13th Black Crusade on 986.999.M41 that many mechanisms of the Golden Throne have developed technological failures beyond the current ability of the Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to repair. Because of this, it seems possible that the Emperor's body will die at some time in the near future.Depending on the many myths and fevered predictions that have come to dominate the Imperium's "Time of Ending," this unwelcome event will either destroy or actually save the Imperium of Man, and the galaxy as a whole, from the inevitable destruction brought by Chaos.With the discovery of the Golden Throne's deteriorating state, a dozen contingency expeditions have been launched by the Cult Mechanicus, including a Xanthite war procession of the Inquisition sent through the Exhubris Portal into the Webway. The Xanthites fought through Harlequin troupes and Daemon hordes alike before reaching their intended destination. In the grave-cold oubliettes of the Haemonculi beneath the Drukhari city of Commorragh, a sinister bargain was struck.Not long after the birth of the Great Rift, perceiving the dangerous ignorance of the Mechanicus as a manifest threat to the Emperor's safety -- and thus falling beneath the purview of the Adeptus Custodes -- Shield-Captain Heraclast Vadrian consulted with Captain-General Trajann Valoris, the Chief Custodian, and received permission to seek a solution to the failing mechanisms of the Golden Throne. He gathered a band of his finest warriors aboard the cruiser Scion of Argo, and set off following a lead that pointed to the lost Forge World of Morvane.