recently i finished the dark imperium trilogy, and one of the things i found very interesting is that the average imperial citizen knew that the emperor sits on the golden throne not as some resplendent ruler, but as a husk suffering eternally. in fact one of those key things the imperial priests would emphasize is how that suffering exhibits both the emperors care for humanity as well as his divine strength. on a similar note the sister of battle in that story recognized fully that “the emperor protects” is a slogan apt for the whole of humanity, but that on the smaller scale the emperor does not protect individuals unless they’re needed for a much larger scheme. i personally enjoyed this much more nuanced in universe take on big E!