Takashi_Kurita

Here, I ask the question instead:

What if there had never been an Emperor or Great Crusade? If he had never re-united Terra?

What if, instead, the Adeptus Mechanicus had been able to carry out thier plan, at the appointed time when the Warp Storms around earth ceased, to instead begin thier own plan to re-unite mankind and re-instate the Golden Age of Technology?

Basically, what I'm asking is: If the Adeptus Mechanicus had been the primary agent of reunification, crusade, and creating and Empire, how would things have turned out differently? How would a Mechanicus-Imperium spanning the galaxy constrast with the Imperium that we know now?

broadaxe

By the Emperor! They would implant us all with mechanical parts! The horror!

And then there is the Rite of Pure Thought...gah

Deathscythe61

Chaos would have gripped much of the IoM, i would suppose(?). Then again, the adeptus may have lobotomized humanity to prevent the emotions, etc. that would lead to chaos. Not pleasant either way...

MagosMechanicus

The loss of the Imperator also means the loss of the Space Marines, as they are based on His genetic template, but the Mechanicus should still be able to create a force of Skitarii that might do the same trick, albeit at rather greater cost. The Emperor's person also seems to have been a factor of some importance in getting some planets to join the Imperium voluntarily, and losing Him should probably slow that diplomatic expansion. On the whole, I think the Mechanicus would have a much slower going of their Great Crusade, but since they'd have no Primarchs and Warmaster, Chaos probably wouldn't be able to do its Horus Heresy gambit again either. Probably the only person it could target for similar effect would be the Magos Mechanicus himself, but since the loyalty of Mechanicus members should ultimately be to the Machine God and the Quest for Knowledge, even the effect that would have could be limited by comparison to the Heresy.

The Imperium as united by the Mechanicus would be smaller, but not so much under threat and possibly still expanding until the rise of the Necron and Tyranid threats (which should probably halt them at least). It would also probably be even more oppressive than the existing Imperium, as the value of a human being dropped to be equal to his\her knowledge + his\her service to the Mechanicus. Since the tech-priesthood would keep most humans ignorant, that leaves the majority drudging along in laborious lives little more interesting than that of a servitor, if indeed they aren't actually made into servitors to enhance their capacity for service.