how did FTL/warp travel work before the Horus Heresy?

[Many-Named]

Hi, I was listening to some lore podcast when I realized that warp travel existed before the Emperor got injured. Since the Astronomicon needs him to guide voidships, was warp travel possible without the EOM serving as a galactic light bulb?

I'm sure there is an answer but I couldnt find it online, if anyone knows thanks

[Kaerakh]

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the Warp was less hostile and easier to navigate.

Some grey beard can correct or expand on that.

[Many-Named]

Originally posted by Kaerakh:

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the Warp was less hostile and easier to navigate.

Some grey beard can correct or expand on that.

Do you know what would have been the reason for such a massive change please?

[Kaerakh]

Originally posted by Many-Named:

Originally posted by Kaerakh:

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the Warp was less hostile and easier to navigate.

Some grey beard can correct or expand on that.

Do you know what would have been the reason for the massive change please?

If I recall, granted I'm a lore casual, it's because of all the excess of negative emotions in real space manifesting in the Warp, so there's to some effect a feedback loop from humanity's present cruelty and depravity that simultaneously feeds Chaos and protects humanity from the influence of it.

[Many-Named]

Originally posted by Kaerakh:

Originally posted by Many-Named:

Do you know what would have been the reason for the massive change please?

If I recall, granted I'm a lore casual, it's because of all the excess of negative emotions in real space manifesting in the Warp, so there's to some effect a feedback loop from humanity's present cruelty depravity that simultaneously feeds Chaos and protects them from the influence of it.

I appreciate the answers, thanks. So the ''death'' of the EOM would have coincided with the change in the warp...Or was it a cause?

[Kaerakh]

Originally posted by Many-Named:

Originally posted by Kaerakh:

If I recall, granted I'm a lore casual, it's because of all the excess of negative emotions in real space manifesting in the Warp, so there's to some effect a feedback loop from humanity's present cruelty depravity that simultaneously feeds Chaos and protects them from the influence of it.

I appreciate the answers, thanks. So the ''death'' of the EOM would have coincided with the change in the warp...Or was it a cause?

The former I think, Big Emp's plan was more or less to make everyone atheists to starve out Chaos and to move FTL travel to the Web Ways to separate humanity from the Warp and Chaos, which is part of the irony of the Imperium of Man.

[Ishan451]

Originally posted by Many-Named:

Hi, I was listening to some lore podcast when I realized that warp travel existed before the Emperor got injured. Since the Astronomicon needs him to guide voidships, was warp travel possible without the EOM serving as a galactic light bulb?

I'm sure there is an answer but I couldnt find it online, if anyone knows thanks

Warp Travel works the same it did before. When the Human Empire fell due to the raise of the Men of Iron... it splintered. Then the Emperor was created... and he started his conquest iof earth. Around that time the Eldar Empire fell and birthed Slaanesh, which cut everything off as the birth of Slaanesh covers everything in warp storms for a couple hundred years.

Once the storms calmed enough the Emperor set out to reclaim the Human Empire with the help of his close allies on Mars.

They already used Gellerfields to protect their ships and whatnot. The difference to the old Human civilisation is simple: The warp was calmer.

The Eldar used their understanding of the warp to create their Gods and use their gods as a mean to keep the "Chaos" in check. But when Slaanesh was born, many of the Eldar Gods died and it threw the Immaterium into Chaos and upheaval.

[BrutalBeast]

Originally posted by Ishan451:

Originally posted by Many-Named:

Hi, I was listening to some lore podcast when I realized that warp travel existed before the Emperor got injured. Since the Astronomicon needs him to guide voidships, was warp travel possible without the EOM serving as a galactic light bulb?

I'm sure there is an answer but I couldnt find it online, if anyone knows thanks

Warp Travel works the same it did before. When the Human Empire fell due to the raise of the Men of Iron... it splintered. Then the Emperor was created... and he started his conquest iof earth. Around that time the Eldar Empire fell and birthed Slaanesh, which cut everything off as the birth of Slaanesh covers everything in warp storms for a couple hundred years.

Once the storms calmed enough the Emperor set out to reclaim the Human Empire with the help of his close allies on Mars.

They already used Gellerfields to protect their ships and whatnot. The difference to the old Human civilisation is simple: The warp was calmer.

The Eldar used their understanding of the warp to create their Gods and use their gods as a mean to keep the "Chaos" in check. But when Slaanesh was born, many of the Eldar Gods died and it threw the Immaterium into Chaos and upheaval.

Creation of the Emperor predates the Men of Iron by about 30k years. He just stayed hidden until the warp storms splintered the human civilization and he decided to emerge and take lead.

[Many-Named]

lol it is gonna take me a lot to unpack this, ty guys, you're the best

[Ultimate Pheer]

Simple answer: before slaanesh, it was a bit difficult but mostly doable, after slaanessh it was super dangerous even with the astronomicon (which Empy could power himself from anywhere in the galaxy because GW took ‘restraint’ out back and gave it the Emperor’s Mercy.

[Bomoo]

IIRC from some recent reading, the human civilization before the age of strife mostly used robotic servants to travel long distances and prepare colony planets for them. Also something about the warp not being quite so hostile back then.

But the fuzziness of what exactly went on back then is part of the 40k setting, that it's all lost to time and nobody really knows anything concrete beyond scattered and fragmentary and unreliable records.

[Many-Named]

Originally posted by Bomoo:

IIRC from some recent reading, the human civilization before the age of strife mostly used robotic servants to travel long distances and prepare colony planets for them. Also something about the warp not being quite so hostile back then.

But the fuzziness of what exactly went on back then is part of the 40k setting, that it's all lost to time and nobody really knows anything concrete beyond scattered and fragmentary and unreliable records.

I get what you mean but something this major just can't be a fuzzy detail imo

[luZk]

They did something sort like warp jumping, where you edge the warp but can only jump very short distances safely afaik.

[Kaerakh]

Originally posted by Many-Named:

Originally posted by Bomoo:

IIRC from some recent reading, the human civilization before the age of strife mostly used robotic servants to travel long distances and prepare colony planets for them. Also something about the warp not being quite so hostile back then.

But the fuzziness of what exactly went on back then is part of the 40k setting, that it's all lost to time and nobody really knows anything concrete beyond scattered and fragmentary and unreliable records.

I get what you mean but something this major just can't be a fuzzy detail imo

It's fuzzy because of how GW handles the lore. Books and material are allowed to contradict each other and some details of huge events are lines of off hand dialogue from various characters. The authority of one citation over another is guess work based on if other material acknowledges the same details or if it's more recently published which seemingly bears some condoning of some kind of retcon that's not specified.

Edit: Luetin09 talks about it on his channel when discussing sources in various videos like his Emperor of Mankind series.

[Artus Shelby Rubicon V Alpharius]

Didn't Lorgars sorcery make traveling through the Warp more difficult during the Brotherhood Wars? I remember how he ignited the great warp storms with a ritual on Ultramar. From then on, traveling through the warp became almost impossible.

[PancakeFuego]

The Warp, as others said, was far less hostile back then. The fall of the Eldar Empire, which resulted in the creation of Slaanesh, is what caused the other Chaos Gods to break free from their containment and make the warp dangerous.