Not enough discussion of the absolutely baffling blink-and-you-miss-it line in As Yet Unsent when Coronabeth casually drops the fact that it’s apparently the done thing for the population of Empire-occupied planets to be stuck with one-sided treaties/contracts/trade agreements “to be re-negotiated when the Emperor dies” and then when they dare to ask if Johnny boy is gonna hurry it along bc it’s kinda been awhile, they just get told “Lol the Emperor doesn’t die straight up ever, you ignorant rubes. He literally has “King Undying” in his name, how did you not know this”
WILDLY unhinged way to do foreign policy. I mean if your world gets conquered by a dude who has “King Undying” as one of his dozen titles, obviously as someone unacquainted with necromancy, your mind would go to “Ah yes, standard vainglorious dictator way of calling oneself” and not necessarily directly to “This guy is an unholy wizard with powers and he’s literally factually immortal and it’s not a bit”
Also consider: the Houses first made contact with other descendants of humanity five thousand years before canon. Depending on how old the first imperial settlements are, that’s millenia of waiting for someone to die. Unhinged