Imperial Truth - Necessity of the Lie: Though the learned now question the complex and delicate balance of philosophies the Imperial Truth put into motion, for all that came to pass the Emperor was no fool. He was without doubt aware of the hypocrisies fundamental to the tenets of the Imperial Truth.That the entities within the Immaterium pose a danger to the Imperium is without question, but to suppress their nature rather than to educate His subjects, to deny enlightenment in what He hoped to become the Age of Enlightenment, cannot have been a path lightly trod. It can only be concluded that the Emperor was aware of the risks and enacted a calculated strategy to protect His greater purpose.The need for the Great Lie is a matter of some speculation. Some have argued that the Emperor's goal was to defeat death itself by excising the soul and that knowledge of the existence of a soul within the Warp would be Humanity's downfall. Others thought that He sought to enter the mind of every Human being in the galaxy and alternatively impart His phenomenal knowledge or His psychic gifts, creating an ultimate, ascended species of Mankind.Yet others have quietly suspected that He wished nothing less than dominion over all of reality and unreality, and hid the supernatural nature of unreality such that no being would dare challenge His claim upon it. Darker rumours, those which were whispered during the days of the Emperor's seclusion on Terra to construct the Webway Project, surmise that He sought to reach the apotheosis of godhood for Himself, leaving Mankind behind with the cold revelation that the Imperial Truth was a lie and the gods real.Whatever the case, it was clear to the Imperium from His retreat to Terra at the pinnacle of the Great Crusade after the Ullanor Crusade in 000.M30, as well as the endless parade of people and machines descending into the Imperial Dungeon beneath the Imperial Palace, that some vast and intensive artifice was underway, which served only to fuel further speculation.It may even have been that the entirety of the Great Crusade served only to acquire the mysteries and materiel required to meet another objective, and that the Imperial Truth was simply a means to an end -- never intended to withstand a test such as that which Horus' Traitors brought against it.Knowledge could have been Mankind's greatest weapon. The sword of knowledge racing across the stars with the Great Crusade could have empowered Humanity to know the Daemon and to combat its insidious presence. The shield of ignorance with which the Emperor hoped to protect Mankind could only ever stymie the flood of darkness, never halt its onslaught.It frayed and buckled as any shield is wont to with the hammering of the enemy upon it. The Emperor's gamble with the fate of Humanity was ultimately a failure, and His denial of the true nature of the Warp a mistake. The Emperor could have stopped all of this, Horus' rebellion, the ascendance of the Warp and the near-ruination of the Imperium, if only He had told His sons and His subjects the truth.Though the Emperor's plan may have failed, surely no one, alive or dead, could have known more of the consequences of His decisions. Had others known what the Emperor did, it is an open question whether they might have produced a better outcome.Regardless, none can be sure of the ultimate solution He foresaw, only that the threat must still be countered if the Imperium and the species it serves is to survive.