[Calaban]

OK, The Imperium has very strong feeling about the mutated, or deformed.. riiiight?

So then why is their Imperial emblem a two headed eagle, and why has no purity obsessed Inquisitor so much as batted an eye at that oddity?!?

:P

[fat_tree]

Maybe it is an iquisitor :P

As you said that i relised it, what the heresy is this?

[CmdrBonesaw]

IIRC, the two heads came up AFTER the Emperors ascension to the Golden Throne. The two heads stand for his physical presence and his warp presence - and the eagle itself most probably for his courage, nobility and so on.

The Imperium has no "special thing" going with two-headed eagles. It is just a symbol.

Cheers,
-Bone

[Lex]

Actually if you're looking for the real-life origion of the eagle, not the fluff, then take a look at this:
Linky
The Emperor was born in Anatolia, this is a famous rug from Anatolia, flip it, does the middle pattern look familar? Because that looks like a double headed eagle to me.

Edit by FT: Link snipped so it didn't distort the page and karma earned

[Circus Freak]

It's to represent looking both ways, I think. It's a German or Austrian thing and it represents being watchful to the West and the East.

I haven't checked the link, that's just what my memory tells me.

[Esque]

Originally Posted by Lex

Actually if you're looking for the real-life origion of the eagle, not the fluff, then take a look at this:
Linky has been snipped
The Emperor was born in Anatolia, this is a famous rug from Anatolia, flip it, does the middle pattern look familar? Because that looks like a double headed eagle to me.

Holy christ! This is probably the most nerdy thing I have seen in this forum. Someone award this man some karma, I bow to you! How did you come up with this?

[Doombringer]

I think the Horus Heresy or Ciaphis Cain novels have an explanation in there too, IIRC.

Something about the two heads looking towards humanity's past and future, but I can't remember and probably have it mixed up somehow.

[Behdini]

Okay:

First, what an aquila is.

Second, also easily accessible from Wikipedia:

The double-headed eagle is a common symbol in heraldry and vexillology. It is most commonly associated with the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantine heraldry, the heads represent the dual sovereignty of the Emperor (secular and religious) and/or dominance of the Byzantine Emperors over both East and West. Several Eastern European nations adopted it from the Byzantines and continue to use it as their national symbol to this day, the most prominent being Russia. However, the design was in use in the East for centuries before it was officially adopted by the Byzantines, and was independently adopted as the symbol of several other historical states, such as early medieval Armenia and possibly the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm.

It was likely chosen because of its use by The Holy Roman Empire and the subsequent Austrian Empire and German Confederation.

The same page also notes its use in 40k, and observes that the Emperor is from Anatolia (ie. Rûm), although that's just nice fluff on top of the Holy Roman Empire in Space that the game actually is.

[Calaban]

Interesting, I never realized the 'looking east/west, looking to the past/future' symbolism.

But OK, follow me on this, because what the symbol means is kind of missing the point:

IF some biological magus-sorta guy [ok, my latin sux], genetically engineered a fully natural and biological Bald Eagle so that it had two heads... fully a frankesteinian perversion of nature, or something that would most likely be seen on a warp world....

.. would it be seen as a monsterous perversion of nature... or a holy and fully fitting symbol of the Imperium?

.. would its creater be nailed to a plank and set afire, or would he be promoted and given a job as permanent aquila creater?

Theres the weirdness: not taking the symbol in our current enlightened point of view, but instead seeing its symbolism from the dark, dogmatic, fearfull and ignorant views of the people in the 40k dark future... and wondering why its not a problem.

[Doombringer]

Well, I think the Imperium is more against mutation in humans, not mutation in animals.

Given that all of Catachan wasn't already completely wiped out by the Inquisition due to all the mutated monstrous man-eating plants they have there is a good indication that the Imperium is likely tolerant of mutation, just as long as they aren't humans.

EDIT - Hell, as a matter of fact, I think I recall a certain piece of art or some kind of model where an Inquisitor actually had a two-headed Eagle familiar!