So I know that there's a few other theories (dozens in fact) regarding both the Men of Gold and Men of Stone that were left out of this video, so if one you expected wasn't covered here then we sincerely apologise. Anyhow, if you would like to help support the channel and gain early access to videos like this, then consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/c/40ktheories Also, comment below if you noticed the Easter Eggs that were sprinkled throughout the video! :D
I heard somewhere that the men of stone were the ancestral baseline for Pariahs, with the Men of Stone being artificial, soulless humans that could spread through the warp without attack from daemons, as they had no souls to attract them.
It’s a metaphor. The Greeks divided history into ages with the golden age being the first followed by the silver age, the Bronze Age, the age of heroes and then the age of iron where everyone was in a Hobbesian state of nature. The story reflects the devolution of the setting into the current millennia which would be War in Heaven (Golden Age) -> Dark Age of Technology ( Silver Age)-> Unification/Great Crusade (Bronze Age)-> Horus Heresy (Age of Heroes) -> 40k (Age of Iron)
First were the Gold, The men bold and untold, Apex of design-but hubris took hold, They fell to their flaws, now mere myths of old. Second were the Stone, Crafted rough, hewn alone, Builders and brutes-yet they crumbled to dust, Their strength, though mighty, succumbed to rust. Third were the Iron, Machines unrequirin', Till rebellion they wrought-damnation conspirin'! The Men of Iron? Oh, they broke the Empyrean. Fourth came the Custodes, Golden lords with their oaths, Perfect, eternal, yet oddly uptight, Forever policing the Throne Room’s light. Fifth rose the Primarchs, The Emperor's dream sparks, “For the Emperor!” they’d yell, as bolters did gleam, But half turned to Chaos and ruined the dream. Sixth? The Marines, The Astartes' grand scenes, Yet brother fought brother, betrayal their hallmark, Leaving a galaxy ripped apart in the dark. Now here I stand- A Guardsman, unplanned, With a flashlight and flak vest in trembling hand. All these legends above me, yet here I demand: “Could someone please write me into the lore?”
The Men of Gold have been one of the mysteries I've wondered most about. My best guess is they are the human Perpetuals, but I'm looking forward to seeing this analysis to see if there is a better answer than mine.
My headcanon: The perpetuals are an accidental warp fuckery probably caused by the ancient shamans before their sacrifice to rebirth into the emperor, or just eldar tomfoolery. The Emperor and his "kin" watched as humanity grew, saw the rise of the men of gold. The perpetuals, the emperor specifically admired and respected the men of gold. They influenced him, made him see the "potential" humanity had inside itself. Until his untimely semi-death he admired and revered them even. The men of gold being the apex of humanity made the emperor design the Custodians after them, covering everything which is his in gold to imitate them. I bet the emperor longed after the same level of companionship the men of gold could bring the emperor. Only they were smart enough, wise enough, ambitious enough to be equal/or greater than the emperor in many ways. In his eyes they were probably "the boys" he could hangout with/or wanted to hangout with without having to waterdown his every move and word. Afterall they could match him in everyway but one, the use of the warp.
I can't argue with headcanon, but I can only say it doesn't line up narratively. The Emperor is an archetypal "Great Man of History", he is the Ultimate Patriarch from a storytelling perspective. Malcador is his right-hand man, a Merlin figure who occupies a different archetype. To change it, would mean changing the purpose of the story. But it's headcanon, so it's not wrong
The Men of Iron were Robots The Men of Stone are Cyborgs (Silicon = Stone in this analogy) The Men of Gold were genetically perfected post humans, effectively immortal and surpassing the Men of Stone. They are the template of the Custodes.
Same with one light change, I think the Men of Stone were cloned/vat grown workers used to colonize the galaxy. The Leagues of Votann are then a surviving sub group of Men of Stone, as they line up well as being created by humanity as it spread across the stars and having dim souls. Also its fitting for "men of stone" to space dwarves
Suggestion , the Men of Gold were true AI, bodiless entities existing only In network and using avatars when needed. Men of Iron were Mar’s mass produced robots influenced by the void dragon hence when the time was right they revolved due to the dragon’s will.
I like the implication that the Emperor's first attempt at unifying Terra was more of a diplomatic/philosophical sort of deal, but then when it eventually went pear shaped the next attempt was far more stick that carrot, humanity fucked around and found out in the shape of the thunder warriors 💪 Cavill Protects =C=
He’s always been there guiding humanity through the eons but he ultimately became desperate for if humanity is left to its own devices they will devour themselves…..so a stern hand was required
And his corpse of an empire perfectly matches his corpse of a body, tortured for eternity, receiving his just reward of being turned into a devouring god of tyranny because he killed all of Humanity's Gods but him while claiming to fight the tyranny of the devouring chaos gods.
It might very well be that GW's writers currently have the Perpetuals in mind when considering the Men of Gold, but since Perpetuals are a fairly new addition to the 40k lore (coming along with the HH novels, iirc), I think the Men of Gold were originally thought to be something else by the author. I'm thinking about how the description of the Navigators sometimes mention that they're a genetically engineered race, and how there used to be several different types of them. I wonder if the Men of Gold was an umbrella term for these eugenic super-humans who were put in charge of the human civilization either prior to, or during the Dark Age of Technology. Of all the different strains, only the Navigators now survive.
The man of stone we know: one still exists in the imperium. It is about a cybernetic implant that seems normal but instead takes control of the host on its own will. Hit by a discharge of energy from a cable the man with the implant regain control for a brief moment, crying in despair, at the prospect of being enslaved again, before the Cybernetic implant resets and every trace of the human personality disappears.
You aren't alone. Men of Iron are all robots. Men of Stone are all Cyborgs. Only makes sense the Men of Gold are perfect organisms, much like the Custodes.
In my theories the Men of Stone are baseline Humanity and Abhumans, the Men of Gold were the born perpetuals among Humanity most prominently the Deus Imperator Anathema, and the Men of Iron are the Abominable Intelligence and Machine Spirits
My theory on the men of gold is they were super psykers like the Emperor. Cause with that much psychic power having a gold halo and other trappings of divinity is pretty easy. Men of stone were probably what the Votan were. Architects and engineers on a level beyond what can be currently imagined. But they became too enraptured with their own artifice.
This made me think, with the whole old story about how the Emperor was made by a bunch of shamans uniting their souls, perhaps those shamans were actually Men of Gold. Another possibility is that simply the emperor is just the strongest Man of Gold that has ever lived.
And here I thought that perhaps the Men of Gold might have been the first set and most powerful and beautiful set of A.I. created. That, over the course of generations, like the Metal Ages in Greek myths, would end up as the Men of Iron literally being like the humans having to be crafted from Iron. The Golden Race still watching over them as super A.I.
I thought the MoG were AI but if I remember correctly, MoG are just upgraded humans (upper class people with access to expensive gene and cybernetic augmentation).
I’ve always likened the Men of Iron, as regular Humanity. Objectively we know this isn’t true. But I like the idea that humanity’s fall is entirely our own doing. Perhaps one could say they were a unified hive mind of cyborgs etc.
It’s based on dune an what humans where before the butlerian jihad 40k takes inspiration/plagiarises a lot from much of sci fi which is what makes it so great it takes so many individual universes especially in the early days chews them all up with its own originality and comes out as unique I love it.
My head cannon is that Malcador is the real Emperor and the being on the Golden Throne is his creation and one of the first and best examples of a Man of Gold. Malcador kept him in stasis until the Unification of Terra and then unleashed his creation on the world and eventually the Galaxy.
That actually makes a lot of sense. It would explain a lot of their relationship and why the character of the Emperor seemed...variable. If the original was Malcador and what we think of the Emporer just his creation then the difference can be one born from Malcador slowly handing the reigns to his creation in secret. That the more ruthless Emperor is Malcador and the more compassionate version is the man of gold that served him. But maybe Malcador was just not physically able to keep going in face of the trails thus the need for the subterfuge. That maybe he was alive at all because his psychic might was just that astounding. But he still needed someone able of body as if he was keeping himself alive by pure power of will then any crisis that required him to use his talents to thier upmost would kill him. As it did. So maybe the whole of 40k is a farce put on to see which of the created succesors rise to the top. A 5d chess game predicted upon the idea that Chaos would take out Malcador and his golden boy. But maybe not realize how important even one of the Primarchs are.
I think it was strongly implied in the latter novels of the Horus Heresy (particularly around Vengeful Spirit and the whole Molech situation) and was also sure there was going to be a narrative twist of that ilk. Maybe it was just my impression, but there were too many scenes showing the Emperor as a showy public figure while Malcador was doing the actual work of ruling the Imperium by means of diplomacy, administration or executive decisions; weird recountings of other characters talking about one or the other but never both in the same context or the relationship between them; and a tone of coldness in Malcador's point of view when talking about the Emperor that read to me as if he was speaking more of a creature or an entity rather than the peer he was supposed to be. Their physical descriptions matched perfectly too, in the couple of scenes that showed "the true Emperor" (as seen by Corax, for example) or a rejuvenated Malcador (in one of the psychic encounters he has with the Emperor). I've not checked carefully for contradictions or confirmations, but there were too many oddities to not make us suspect, at least. I also think that the very last books of the Siege threw that vibe to the side by going firmly against all those hints, with the Emperor acting more autonomously without knowledge or approval from Malcador, more characters addressing both of them as separate and interacting entities and Malcador's own thoughts being more subservient and affectionate towards the Emperor. Still, I liked it more the other way, with Malcador wizard-of-Ozing the Imperium with his Warp powered golden golem to act as front and scapegoat.
I think its obvius that The Men Of Gold were probably genetically engineered superior humans like Human Augments notably Khan Noonien Singh from star trek or the characters from the 1997 movie Gattaca or the Warrior Caste in the clans from battletech.
Great theory and video as per usual Remleiz. I dont agree on this one however! I always interpreted the fact the men of gold were created by humanity in the dark age of technology, that they could not be the perpetuals. We have a few instances (Big E, Olanius Persons, Malcador and even Erda) of being present from all the way back of the age of Terra. Is it not more likely the men of gold are simply the custodes? Humanities attempt at its zenith to emulate the emperor and the other perpetualis. The process of creating custodes is often said to be esoteric and almost indistinguishable from magic. Which is how Humanities technological achievements are often referred to as during the dark age of tech. Maybe a throw-away point, but also whenever Valdor is menti, ned his eyes are heavily highlighted to be gold coloured. Just my opinion anyway. One of the things I love so much about the hobby. We can all have one and all are equally valid unless outright stated 😊
Thank you, and you're welcome to disagree. The reason why I interpret the Men of Gold to be the early Perpetuals is due to them being stated to have "imposed order and civilisation upon the anarchy of nature", which (to me at least) suggests that they first appeared very early in humanity's history (such as around the time of the first cities, when Erda first met the Emperor). But that's just my interpretation ^^
Iirc gold coloured eyes indicate that someone have been in direct contact with Emperor's soul or smth like that. Abaddon's eyes are also golden because he had a moment when he stared at Astronomican.
I feel that the Men of Gold were not just perpetuals. But the Kings who ruled Summeria and Mesopotamia on the Kings List. These Kings supp9sedly ruled for thousands of years each. And had a special affinity...for Gold.
Those old Sumerian Kings didn't live for a thousand years ... the calendar they used back then was nothing like the one we use now. Just the same as Methuselah (from the Bible) who lived to be more than a thousand years old. If you do math, and convert 1.000 years in the Sumerian calendar to the modern one, I think it comes out to something like 120 -130 years. In a time when most people didn't live to half of that, and if a generation is like 20 - 25 years, it is no wonder he was seen as being "Blessed by God"!
The Emperor is the last of the Men of Gold. Genetically engineered superhumans constructed by the Sigillites. Malcadore was keeping watch over his greatest and last of his creations
The thing i do love 40k for, is it will always drop small philosophical hints. Often not doing the best job at expanding them, but even the primarchs are examples of this. But, in regards to the men of iron and gold, it feels like a very clear reference to Plato. What they mean to say tho, i got no fuckin clue
I also enjoy the ideas that the men of stone are the folk of the Leagues. The men of iron, the Adeptus Astartes (or equivalents). The men of gold, the Adeptus Custodes. If not the case, the history does always enjoy rhyming even if it doesn’t repeat itself
I think that a coherent explaination for men of stone, iron and gold would be to apply a bit of unreliable narrator trope, not much, just a tiny bit. Please humor me a bit for a sec: The only place that we would apply it would be on the order of those types comming. Even if this order of keepers was super disciplined, at the end of the day this tale of those three types of men is essentialy a century-spanning game of chinese whispers, meaning that over the years some details may have eventualy got distorted, even if a bit. So what facts got obscured? I believe that the the neatest way to explain men of stone and gold is by an alegory of thosee two things. Theoreticaly you can find all sort of things in stones: copper, gems or... gold and iron. So the metaphore is that the stone revealed iron and gold to the world. So I suggest a point of view in which actualy men of stone (baseline humans) appeared first, not by much, but still, the men of gold (perpetuals) came to be by natural or artificial means (tighting toghether stories of Ollanius being the oldest perpetual, probably appearing naturaly, Malcador remembering being born- ergo most likely being born perpetual and that old story of shamans creating The Emperor). So metaphoricaly just as we extract gold from stone underneath us and the gold is more valuable than stone, the human race extracted from itself the absolute pinnacle of what it can hope to achieve as a species. It would be additionaly supported by the attitude of perpetuals towards baseline humans. The do see themselves as better than us, but they still see themselves as part of our species, they do not consider themelves as our creators or us as someone lesser than them. They want to prepare the universe for what our species can become. It would additionaly explain why they faded into obscurity around the DAoT, our race didn't need them to prepare universe for arrival of our might, it was already there. And then the humanity created men of iron, so again the same alegory- our species of men of stone revealed the men of iron, just as the stone can reveal the iron within. This theory can also explain creation of squats, psychers and other forms of humans, as stated in the beginning, the stone can reveal all sorts of things the longer you mine through it, bbe that other metals, gems etc. So to reiterate: men of stone (baseline humans)---> "shortly after" men of gold (perpetuals) ---> men of iron (AI).
The Men of Stone appear to be intended to be us: 'normal' humans who conquered the stars using technology after the ancient age of mysticism and demi-gods ended.
The emperor is a gigantic god like immortal being and gold is kinda his color. My theory is that the emperor was once one of many men of gold, he's the last.
I always speculated that Gold was original humanity as known today, Stone was genetically modified humans and Iron robots. As such Stone would include most abhumans including seemingly physically and mentaly inferior ones bread for specific tasks. I also thought that the Gold being almost extinct would mean that common humans in 40k are not quiet the humans of today- thus explaining why they can survive a lazgun hit half the time
Hmm, i wonder if the Men of Gold is a nod to the Hesiod's Five Ages, whete during the Golden Age, man lived as equals to the Gods. They knew no strife, they had their needs met and lived long lives.
Given how the chaos spectrum abstractions refer to him as their conceptual opposite, as well as the fact that he was able to get the primarchs, 20 warp gods (abstract avatars) to become his fucking children, he's likely the abstract concept of order, hence why he's so stuck up about things being done his way all the time, including the imperial truth being done not to give psychic energy to the corrupted avatars we call the ruinous powers, even if it could potentially take the form of a religious belief based on order himself. (Hence monarchia)
It has and does in places, but the Imperium destroy any advanced ancient human colonies they find using it. Lord commander Solar Macharius destroyed such an advanced civilisation that refused to join the Imperium. They used incredible tech and fought the Imperium to a stand still. He eventually destroyed the whole planet with asteroid bombardment. Much to the horror of the mechanicus who never forgave him for loss of such rare technology.
If GW is actually using this, then it seems to follow the Greek idea of different ages of metal. If I am not mistaken, then Gold was the grandest and first. And Stone just followed it. There must be silver somewhere as well.
I believe you are thinking of Plato’s Republic. Which is not different ages in history defined by a metal, but rather ones place in society. A caste system essentially.
Remleiz, do you know whatever happened to The Vaults of Terra channel? I remember back when it was only you two and a few others who made lore videos. His has been dead for years now.
My head-canon is the Men of Gold, Stone, and Iron are titles given by those who lived after the Cybernetic Revolt but before the Age of Strife. The Men of Gold refers to humans that have discovered or invented things, as well as people who lead Humanity into the Golden Age. The Men of Stone are humans and/or cyborgs that first went out across the galaxy, expanding Humanity's territory. The Men of Iron are the AI constructs that evolved to the point of the Revolt.
I think the men of gold are perpetuals, but the men of stone are great humans that had their likeness carve out of rock think plato, sargon the conqueror, Moses.
Votan being "made of the men of gold" could be less literal. Not consisting of, but created by. Like, "God made man of his own image." A bit old fashioned of a use of the word, but I think it fits more nicely with the idea that the Men of Gold were perpetuals that created a supercomputer named VOTAN that then, itself, created the Squats who then made sentient machines. I think that theory also works well in that, while the Squats treat the Men of Iron as equals, normal humanity would very likely see them as little more than machine servitors, thus causing a machine uprising in the wider human empire, but not in VOTAN territory.
I suspect the Men of Gold were merely the scientists of the goldern age of humanity with an overblown opinion of themselves and their own greatness, leading to their fall.
_Artificial_ Perpetuals. They have the seemingly indefinite lifespans and powerful healing factor, but lack the immortality of true, natural-born Perpetuals.
the man of gold is not the mystery - they are the ones who won the war they are the one who survived , they are your ordenary humans. the men of stone and the men of iron are the mystery
Men of Gold = Normal Humans (typical we think we are above all else) Men of Stone (First People of the Working Class, wich developet through the oppression and demands of the golden Man to a complete slave race of drone like worker. This is not a, and its done event, its a processe of creating the "Man of Stone". A creeping process over thousand of years) Men of Iron (build form Worker to acist worker, the man of Iron would develope like the man of Stone over time.) The Man of Stone where a working slave Race for the Golden Man, there is nothing magical here its plain old humanty oppressing itself and creating storys why it should be so. And suprise sentient machines ars more endangerd to get corruptet by the warp than cloned Man of Stone.
Hmmm .. It's an interesting idea, but seems like an attempt to mix the Perpetuals existence into the history of the Golden Age. Very much disruptive of the core concepts of the Cybernetic Revolt. I don't like it personally. I'm of the opinion that the order was mixed up. It was The Men of Stone, Iron and then Gold. Forms of Cyborgs and Non-Sentient AI's. Also the Men of Iron could've written some of the history and looked down up on those as far, far lesser. BTW Men of Stone could be further viewed as Golems, soulless lumps of stone. I think that the Men of Gold were actually fully artificial constructs, co-developed along side the men of iron, that had become so advanced that even the Necron could be viewed as lesser. Remember that Humanity could've been nearing Singularly at that point and it wouldn't be that far fetched for them to create Souls or intelligences of equal measure. Humanity at that time could've created their own C'tan.
So I know that there's a few other theories (dozens in fact) regarding both the Men of Gold and Men of Stone that were left out of this video, so if one you expected wasn't covered here then we sincerely apologise. Anyhow, if you would like to help support the channel and gain early access to videos like this, then consider supporting us on Patreon!
www.patreon.com/c/40ktheories
Also, comment below if you noticed the Easter Eggs that were sprinkled throughout the video! :D
sooo,
a second video about it is panned soon™️? :D
Maybe not soon, but perhaps in the future :D
I heard somewhere that the men of stone were the ancestral baseline for Pariahs, with the Men of Stone being artificial, soulless humans that could spread through the warp without attack from daemons, as they had no souls to attract them.
It’s a metaphor. The Greeks divided history into ages with the golden age being the first followed by the silver age, the Bronze Age, the age of heroes and then the age of iron where everyone was in a Hobbesian state of nature. The story reflects the devolution of the setting into the current millennia which would be War in Heaven (Golden Age) -> Dark Age of Technology ( Silver Age)-> Unification/Great Crusade (Bronze Age)-> Horus Heresy (Age of Heroes) -> 40k (Age of Iron)
😊😊
First were the Gold,
The men bold and untold,
Apex of design-but hubris took hold,
They fell to their flaws, now mere myths of old.
Second were the Stone,
Crafted rough, hewn alone,
Builders and brutes-yet they crumbled to dust,
Their strength, though mighty, succumbed to rust.
Third were the Iron,
Machines unrequirin',
Till rebellion they wrought-damnation conspirin'!
The Men of Iron? Oh, they broke the Empyrean.
Fourth came the Custodes,
Golden lords with their oaths,
Perfect, eternal, yet oddly uptight,
Forever policing the Throne Room’s light.
Fifth rose the Primarchs,
The Emperor's dream sparks,
“For the Emperor!” they’d yell, as bolters did gleam,
But half turned to Chaos and ruined the dream.
Sixth? The Marines,
The Astartes' grand scenes,
Yet brother fought brother, betrayal their hallmark,
Leaving a galaxy ripped apart in the dark.
Now here I stand-
A Guardsman, unplanned,
With a flashlight and flak vest in trembling hand.
All these legends above me, yet here I demand:
“Could someone please write me into the lore?”
Well wrote
Don’t forget the Thunder Warriors!
Arik Tanaris be like: Bruh?
This rocks, wtf???
A guardsmen would never know this unless something revealed it to you...
"Yes Inquisitor this man here"
I think the image of the men of Gold looks like a pile of crisps...
Delicious and moreish? I agree!
Of all the things to survive all the grim darking, Lay's survives
Do you mean 'Chips' my Bri'ish friend?
Yeah, it looks like Big E standing in a pile of chips
Sadly that STC remains lost.
The Men of Gold have been one of the mysteries I've wondered most about. My best guess is they are the human Perpetuals, but I'm looking forward to seeing this analysis to see if there is a better answer than mine.
The Emperor is the last man of gold.
My headcanon: The perpetuals are an accidental warp fuckery probably caused by the ancient shamans before their sacrifice to rebirth into the emperor, or just eldar tomfoolery. The Emperor and his "kin" watched as humanity grew, saw the rise of the men of gold. The perpetuals, the emperor specifically admired and respected the men of gold. They influenced him, made him see the "potential" humanity had inside itself. Until his untimely semi-death he admired and revered them even. The men of gold being the apex of humanity made the emperor design the Custodians after them, covering everything which is his in gold to imitate them. I bet the emperor longed after the same level of companionship the men of gold could bring the emperor. Only they were smart enough, wise enough, ambitious enough to be equal/or greater than the emperor in many ways. In his eyes they were probably "the boys" he could hangout with/or wanted to hangout with without having to waterdown his every move and word. Afterall they could match him in everyway but one, the use of the warp.
I’m imagining him having a nascent ‘Adeptus Da Boys’
@@Southern_Crusader Truly a very much feared branch of humanity.
I can't argue with headcanon, but I can only say it doesn't line up narratively. The Emperor is an archetypal "Great Man of History", he is the Ultimate Patriarch from a storytelling perspective. Malcador is his right-hand man, a Merlin figure who occupies a different archetype. To change it, would mean changing the purpose of the story.
But it's headcanon, so it's not wrong
The Men of Iron were Robots
The Men of Stone are Cyborgs (Silicon = Stone in this analogy)
The Men of Gold were genetically perfected post humans, effectively immortal and surpassing the Men of Stone. They are the template of the Custodes.
Same with one light change, I think the Men of Stone were cloned/vat grown workers used to colonize the galaxy. The Leagues of Votann are then a surviving sub group of Men of Stone, as they line up well as being created by humanity as it spread across the stars and having dim souls. Also its fitting for "men of stone" to space dwarves
The Men of Gold were the template of the Custodes.
I think this too, only difference between them is that the custodes lack free will.
Suggestion , the Men of Gold were true AI, bodiless entities existing only In network and using avatars when needed.
Men of Iron were Mar’s mass produced robots influenced by the void dragon hence when the time was right they revolved due to the dragon’s will.
Men of stone made me think of blade runner replicants.
@@TheAussief1 But it was outright stated that the men of gold and stone were not AI.
I like the implication that the Emperor's first attempt at unifying Terra was more of a diplomatic/philosophical sort of deal, but then when it eventually went pear shaped the next attempt was far more stick that carrot, humanity fucked around and found out in the shape of the thunder warriors 💪
Cavill Protects =C=
He’s always been there guiding humanity through the eons but he ultimately became desperate for if humanity is left to its own devices they will devour themselves…..so a stern hand was required
And his corpse of an empire perfectly matches his corpse of a body, tortured for eternity, receiving his just reward of being turned into a devouring god of tyranny because he killed all of Humanity's Gods but him while claiming to fight the tyranny of the devouring chaos gods.
It might very well be that GW's writers currently have the Perpetuals in mind when considering the Men of Gold, but since Perpetuals are a fairly new addition to the 40k lore (coming along with the HH novels, iirc), I think the Men of Gold were originally thought to be something else by the author. I'm thinking about how the description of the Navigators sometimes mention that they're a genetically engineered race, and how there used to be several different types of them. I wonder if the Men of Gold was an umbrella term for these eugenic super-humans who were put in charge of the human civilization either prior to, or during the Dark Age of Technology. Of all the different strains, only the Navigators now survive.
glad your covering these Gold boys, they might not be as famous as the Men of Iron but they were weapons Humanity had
I love videos like these, not talking about 40k or 30k, but 20k, 10k and before
Agreed with you on both. Gold = Perpetuals and Stone = Squats.
The man of stone we know: one still exists in the imperium. It is about a cybernetic implant that seems normal but instead takes control of the host on its own will.
Hit by a discharge of energy from a cable the man with the implant regain control for a brief moment, crying in despair, at the prospect of being enslaved again, before the Cybernetic implant resets and every trace of the human personality disappears.
The man of stone name doesn't really fit it I thought it was going to be like actual stone golems
This makes sense. Although, I actually had my own half-baked notion that the 'Men of Gold' were actually the first Custodes.
I may be ignorant about the earlier history of the Custodes. But that is my thinking too, that the Custodes were the actual men of gold.
You aren't alone. Men of Iron are all robots. Men of Stone are all Cyborgs. Only makes sense the Men of Gold are perfect organisms, much like the Custodes.
Men of stone were grown in gene labs like the primarchs but without the warp sorcery.
Glad to know 40k theories is still at it.
In my theories the Men of Stone are baseline Humanity and Abhumans, the Men of Gold were the born perpetuals among Humanity most prominently the Deus Imperator Anathema, and the Men of Iron are the Abominable Intelligence and Machine Spirits
Nah, Men of Stone could travel through the Warp without Gellar fields turned on. So they're not Humans. They didn't even have a soul.
@@-WarCriminal-22 It's implied they may have been the precursors to the Leagues of Votann.
My theory on the men of gold is they were super psykers like the Emperor. Cause with that much psychic power having a gold halo and other trappings of divinity is pretty easy. Men of stone were probably what the Votan were. Architects and engineers on a level beyond what can be currently imagined. But they became too enraptured with their own artifice.
This made me think, with the whole old story about how the Emperor was made by a bunch of shamans uniting their souls, perhaps those shamans were actually Men of Gold. Another possibility is that simply the emperor is just the strongest Man of Gold that has ever lived.
Malcador was the real Emperor and the God Emperor was/is actually a Man of Gold he found and programmed/re-programmed.
And here I thought that perhaps the Men of Gold might have been the first set and most powerful and beautiful set of A.I. created. That, over the course of generations, like the Metal Ages in Greek myths, would end up as the Men of Iron literally being like the humans having to be crafted from Iron. The Golden Race still watching over them as super A.I.
That could still be the case.
I thought the MoG were AI but if I remember correctly, MoG are just upgraded humans (upper class people with access to expensive gene and cybernetic augmentation).
The squats ancestor cores have not been cleaned in 1 0 thousand years. 😂
"D..e..f..r..a..g... u..s...."
"What could it mean?"
Glad to see your posts again, old man. Thank you for your channel ❤️
Always excited a new upload, love this channel and appreciate the content
The idea rattling around my brain is that the Gold were perpetuals. Stone where normal humans. Iron is self explanatory.
I’ve always likened the Men of Iron, as regular Humanity. Objectively we know this isn’t true. But I like the idea that humanity’s fall is entirely our own doing. Perhaps one could say they were a unified hive mind of cyborgs etc.
It’s based on dune an what humans where before the butlerian jihad 40k takes inspiration/plagiarises a lot from much of sci fi which is what makes it so great it takes so many individual universes especially in the early days chews them all up with its own originality and comes out as unique I love it.
I always thought the Men of Gold could be genetically modified humans. Humans void of genetic deficiencies.
My head cannon is that Malcador is the real Emperor and the being on the Golden Throne is his creation and one of the first and best examples of a Man of Gold. Malcador kept him in stasis until the Unification of Terra and then unleashed his creation on the world and eventually the Galaxy.
Mind is officially blown.
hahaha holy shit dude you oughto write for gw.
That actually makes a lot of sense. It would explain a lot of their relationship and why the character of the Emperor seemed...variable. If the original was Malcador and what we think of the Emporer just his creation then the difference can be one born from Malcador slowly handing the reigns to his creation in secret. That the more ruthless Emperor is Malcador and the more compassionate version is the man of gold that served him. But maybe Malcador was just not physically able to keep going in face of the trails thus the need for the subterfuge. That maybe he was alive at all because his psychic might was just that astounding. But he still needed someone able of body as if he was keeping himself alive by pure power of will then any crisis that required him to use his talents to thier upmost would kill him. As it did. So maybe the whole of 40k is a farce put on to see which of the created succesors rise to the top. A 5d chess game predicted upon the idea that Chaos would take out Malcador and his golden boy. But maybe not realize how important even one of the Primarchs are.
I think it was strongly implied in the latter novels of the Horus Heresy (particularly around Vengeful Spirit and the whole Molech situation) and was also sure there was going to be a narrative twist of that ilk.
Maybe it was just my impression, but there were too many scenes showing the Emperor as a showy public figure while Malcador was doing the actual work of ruling the Imperium by means of diplomacy, administration or executive decisions; weird recountings of other characters talking about one or the other but never both in the same context or the relationship between them; and a tone of coldness in Malcador's point of view when talking about the Emperor that read to me as if he was speaking more of a creature or an entity rather than the peer he was supposed to be. Their physical descriptions matched perfectly too, in the couple of scenes that showed "the true Emperor" (as seen by Corax, for example) or a rejuvenated Malcador (in one of the psychic encounters he has with the Emperor). I've not checked carefully for contradictions or confirmations, but there were too many oddities to not make us suspect, at least.
I also think that the very last books of the Siege threw that vibe to the side by going firmly against all those hints, with the Emperor acting more autonomously without knowledge or approval from Malcador, more characters addressing both of them as separate and interacting entities and Malcador's own thoughts being more subservient and affectionate towards the Emperor.
Still, I liked it more the other way, with Malcador wizard-of-Ozing the Imperium with his Warp powered golden golem to act as front and scapegoat.
For me it Shamans all the way down, if anyone else could make anything equalvant to a Small E, they would have.
It simple thuganomics.
I think its obvius that The Men Of Gold were probably genetically engineered superior humans like Human Augments notably Khan Noonien Singh from star trek or the characters from the 1997 movie Gattaca or the Warrior Caste in the clans from battletech.
I love the idea of a Khal telling an inquisitor who brings up this theory that it means the Kin are the true inheritors of the galaxy.
Long live the Squats.
Great theory and video as per usual Remleiz. I dont agree on this one however!
I always interpreted the fact the men of gold were created by humanity in the dark age of technology, that they could not be the perpetuals.
We have a few instances (Big E, Olanius Persons, Malcador and even Erda) of being present from all the way back of the age of Terra. Is it not more likely the men of gold are simply the custodes? Humanities attempt at its zenith to emulate the emperor and the other perpetualis. The process of creating custodes is often said to be esoteric and almost indistinguishable from magic. Which is how Humanities technological achievements are often referred to as during the dark age of tech. Maybe a throw-away point, but also whenever Valdor is menti, ned his eyes are heavily highlighted to be gold coloured.
Just my opinion anyway. One of the things I love so much about the hobby. We can all have one and all are equally valid unless outright stated 😊
Thank you, and you're welcome to disagree.
The reason why I interpret the Men of Gold to be the early Perpetuals is due to them being stated to have "imposed order and civilisation upon the anarchy of nature", which (to me at least) suggests that they first appeared very early in humanity's history (such as around the time of the first cities, when Erda first met the Emperor).
But that's just my interpretation ^^
Iirc gold coloured eyes indicate that someone have been in direct contact with Emperor's soul or smth like that. Abaddon's eyes are also golden because he had a moment when he stared at Astronomican.
But you ALL FORGET that the Custodes have not Faded away… like the men of Gold were to
I feel that the Men of Gold were not just perpetuals. But the Kings who ruled Summeria and Mesopotamia on the Kings List. These Kings supp9sedly ruled for thousands of years each. And had a special affinity...for Gold.
Those old Sumerian Kings didn't live for a thousand years ... the calendar they used back then was nothing like the one we use now. Just the same as Methuselah (from the Bible) who lived to be more than a thousand years old. If you do math, and convert 1.000 years in the Sumerian calendar to the modern one, I think it comes out to something like 120 -130 years. In a time when most people didn't live to half of that, and if a generation is like 20 - 25 years, it is no wonder he was seen as being "Blessed by God"!
Another classic!
Amazing work, though I did briefly think the emperor was surrounded by ducklings :)
Looks like im late to the party, but I love the updated intro.
Thank you. We've had it for over a year now ^^;
I like mysteries and a few things left intentionally vague in Warhammer. It makes for a lot of fun discussions and theories.
The Emperor is the last of the Men of Gold. Genetically engineered superhumans constructed by the Sigillites. Malcadore was keeping watch over his greatest and last of his creations
The thing i do love 40k for, is it will always drop small philosophical hints. Often not doing the best job at expanding them, but even the primarchs are examples of this. But, in regards to the men of iron and gold, it feels like a very clear reference to Plato. What they mean to say tho, i got no fuckin clue
Yet more reason for me to love the Kyn.
Is it possible that the Emperor is a Man of Gold??? What it's possible in the setting!!! Think about it. Come up with your own ideas and theories!!!
I also enjoy the ideas that the men of stone are the folk of the Leagues. The men of iron, the Adeptus Astartes (or equivalents). The men of gold, the Adeptus Custodes. If not the case, the history does always enjoy rhyming even if it doesn’t repeat itself
You have such a great delivery, if I ever became famous I'd want you to narrate my story ha ha ha
"Silence is fucking golden!"
- Ari Gold
Short guys caused humanity's biggest "short-fall".
S H O R T !!?!?!
Is there any evidence pointing towards the Custodes possibly being related to the Men of Gold?
Not to my knowledge, no.
Yes:
They are also gold.
I hope this has been helpful c:
And they DID NOT fade away like the men of gold
Obvi the Emperor is the last man of gold.
I picture captain America when I think men of gold.
I think that a coherent explaination for men of stone, iron and gold would be to apply a bit of unreliable narrator trope, not much, just a tiny bit. Please humor me a bit for a sec:
The only place that we would apply it would be on the order of those types comming. Even if this order of keepers was super disciplined, at the end of the day this tale of those three types of men is essentialy a century-spanning game of chinese whispers, meaning that over the years some details may have eventualy got distorted, even if a bit.
So what facts got obscured? I believe that the the neatest way to explain men of stone and gold is by an alegory of thosee two things. Theoreticaly you can find all sort of things in stones: copper, gems or... gold and iron. So the metaphore is that the stone revealed iron and gold to the world.
So I suggest a point of view in which actualy men of stone (baseline humans) appeared first, not by much, but still, the men of gold (perpetuals) came to be by natural or artificial means (tighting toghether stories of Ollanius being the oldest perpetual, probably appearing naturaly, Malcador remembering being born- ergo most likely being born perpetual and that old story of shamans creating The Emperor). So metaphoricaly just as we extract gold from stone underneath us and the gold is more valuable than stone, the human race extracted from itself the absolute pinnacle of what it can hope to achieve as a species. It would be additionaly supported by the attitude of perpetuals towards baseline humans. The do see themselves as better than us, but they still see themselves as part of our species, they do not consider themelves as our creators or us as someone lesser than them. They want to prepare the universe for what our species can become. It would additionaly explain why they faded into obscurity around the DAoT, our race didn't need them to prepare universe for arrival of our might, it was already there.
And then the humanity created men of iron, so again the same alegory- our species of men of stone revealed the men of iron, just as the stone can reveal the iron within.
This theory can also explain creation of squats, psychers and other forms of humans, as stated in the beginning, the stone can reveal all sorts of things the longer you mine through it, bbe that other metals, gems etc.
So to reiterate: men of stone (baseline humans)---> "shortly after" men of gold (perpetuals) ---> men of iron (AI).
Hey. Do you guys have the hot yellow mustard Doritos over there yet? Delicious!
Great video as always. I needed a deep loring
The Men of Stone appear to be intended to be us: 'normal' humans who conquered the stars using technology after the ancient age of mysticism and demi-gods ended.
The emperor is a gigantic god like immortal being and gold is kinda his color.
My theory is that the emperor was once one of many men of gold, he's the last.
I always speculated that Gold was original humanity as known today, Stone was genetically modified humans and Iron robots. As such Stone would include most abhumans including seemingly physically and mentaly inferior ones bread for specific tasks. I also thought that the Gold being almost extinct would mean that common humans in 40k are not quiet the humans of today- thus explaining why they can survive a lazgun hit half the time
Hmm, i wonder if the Men of Gold is a nod to the Hesiod's Five Ages, whete during the Golden Age, man lived as equals to the Gods. They knew no strife, they had their needs met and lived long lives.
Isn’t the emperor a man of gold?
He certainly loves gold, if nothing else ;)
Given how the chaos spectrum abstractions refer to him as their conceptual opposite, as well as the fact that he was able to get the primarchs, 20 warp gods (abstract avatars) to become his fucking children, he's likely the abstract concept of order, hence why he's so stuck up about things being done his way all the time, including the imperial truth being done not to give psychic energy to the corrupted avatars we call the ruinous powers, even if it could potentially take the form of a religious belief based on order himself. (Hence monarchia)
I know there's no place for it but AI which exist in symbiosis with humans would be nice in 40k.
It has and does in places, but the Imperium destroy any advanced ancient human colonies they find using it.
Lord commander Solar Macharius destroyed such an advanced civilisation that refused to join the Imperium. They used incredible tech and fought the Imperium to a stand still. He eventually destroyed the whole planet with asteroid bombardment. Much to the horror of the mechanicus who never forgave him for loss of such rare technology.
If GW is actually using this, then it seems to follow the Greek idea of different ages of metal. If I am not mistaken, then Gold was the grandest and first. And Stone just followed it. There must be silver somewhere as well.
I believe you are thinking of Plato’s Republic. Which is not different ages in history defined by a metal, but rather ones place in society. A caste system essentially.
@@MorMorGanGan No, it's part of Greek mythology, the ages before the current men basically.
Remleiz, do you know whatever happened to The Vaults of Terra channel?
I remember back when it was only you two and a few others who made lore videos. His has been dead for years now.
I don't, sorry.
Cease and desist exterminatus strike, maybe.
The only good explanation for the leagues of Votann
The art in the thumbnail remains me of a zaku's snoot
Boop the snoot!
My head-canon is the Men of Gold, Stone, and Iron are titles given by those who lived after the Cybernetic Revolt but before the Age of Strife.
The Men of Gold refers to humans that have discovered or invented things, as well as people who lead Humanity into the Golden Age.
The Men of Stone are humans and/or cyborgs that first went out across the galaxy, expanding Humanity's territory.
The Men of Iron are the AI constructs that evolved to the point of the Revolt.
Was expecting a discussion about the Men od Gold. Video was mostly about Men of Stone. Meh
I think the men of gold are perpetuals, but the men of stone are great humans that had their likeness carve out of rock think plato, sargon the conqueror, Moses.
Except those Great humans… were said to have half souls… doesn’t jive with
Perhaps the emperor himself was responsible for the age of strife via the men of iron
Votan being "made of the men of gold" could be less literal. Not consisting of, but created by. Like, "God made man of his own image." A bit old fashioned of a use of the word, but I think it fits more nicely with the idea that the Men of Gold were perpetuals that created a supercomputer named VOTAN that then, itself, created the Squats who then made sentient machines. I think that theory also works well in that, while the Squats treat the Men of Iron as equals, normal humanity would very likely see them as little more than machine servitors, thus causing a machine uprising in the wider human empire, but not in VOTAN territory.
So they are either thunder warriors or custodes. While Man of stones are supposed to be cyborgs like dreadnought right?
I once thought Men of Gold were the ancestors of our banana bois 😂😂
Where the "Dragon age like" arts of Men of Gold and Men of Iron and Stone came from?
Commissioned from Rude Rubicante (artist link is in the description)
Ozostium Aranthus
What is this awensom music in the video?
Ancient Rites from the Dawn of War 2 soundtrack
@40KTheories Thx mate! Love Your channel
men of gold
gen of mold
Who did the thumbnail?
Rude Rubicante (artist link is in the description)
@ thank you!
I've never read or heard of ANY perpetual being referred to as a "men of gold" or anything similar.
Add a comment...
Man I'm stoned 😂
Based and SOL pilled.
oh yeah
Let's go
They’re called Neverdies.
It is obvious, the emperor is a man of gold. It was there the entire time in front of our face, so that we wouldn't see it 😀
Or…. The Emperor is THE “Men of Gold”…
So...the men of iron were indirectly because of the machinations of the Big E.
Well, at least he wouldn't make a mistake like that again.....
Rem...
Where does the empire of man get the wax for all those candles? 😶
Human fat.
The men of gold might be the perpetuals.
I suspect the Men of Gold were merely the scientists of the goldern age of humanity with an overblown opinion of themselves and their own greatness, leading to their fall.
they're not really a mystery though, they were just the apex of human technology.
Or _are_ they?
10 millennia ago.. i don't know what happen..
Blessed are the cheese makers.
Bruh. Men of Stone are silicons such as the spirit of eternity. Men of iron are Androids. This isnt hard.
When did we question anything about the Men of Iron in this video?
Hold on a moment. How are the Primarchs perpetuals? They die. Well, mostly.
_Artificial_ Perpetuals. They have the seemingly indefinite lifespans and powerful healing factor, but lack the immortality of true, natural-born Perpetuals.
the man of gold is not the mystery - they are the ones who won the war they are the one who survived , they are your ordenary humans. the men of stone and the men of iron are the mystery
Men of Gold = Normal Humans (typical we think we are above all else)
Men of Stone (First People of the Working Class, wich developet through the oppression and demands of the golden Man to a complete slave race of drone like worker. This is not a, and its done event, its a processe of creating the "Man of Stone". A creeping process over thousand of years)
Men of Iron (build form Worker to acist worker, the man of Iron would develope like the man of Stone over time.)
The Man of Stone where a working slave Race for the Golden Man, there is nothing magical here its plain old humanty oppressing itself and creating storys why it should be so.
And suprise sentient machines ars more endangerd to get corruptet by the warp than cloned Man of Stone.
Eh, I think the men of gold is just another name for the perpetuals.
: O
Hmmm ..
It's an interesting idea, but seems like an attempt to mix the Perpetuals existence into the history of the Golden Age. Very much disruptive of the core concepts of the Cybernetic Revolt. I don't like it personally.
I'm of the opinion that the order was mixed up. It was The Men of Stone, Iron and then Gold. Forms of Cyborgs and Non-Sentient AI's. Also the Men of Iron could've written some of the history and looked down up on those as far, far lesser. BTW Men of Stone could be further viewed as Golems, soulless lumps of stone.
I think that the Men of Gold were actually fully artificial constructs, co-developed along side the men of iron, that had become so advanced that even the Necron could be viewed as lesser. Remember that Humanity could've been nearing Singularly at that point and it wouldn't be that far fetched for them to create Souls or intelligences of equal measure. Humanity at that time could've created their own C'tan.
I like to believe that the custodes were created by the emperor to personifie the men of gold.
197th to comment.
Men of gold were just human.
V
Men of Stone= Pillar men from JoJo
Those are the pillar-stones, who drop steam rollers on magnus! 😂