[T77]

There's a Warhammer Wiki, which helps me a lot. Though QT provided an excellent write up.

[Cyphon]

Worth saying that the imperium of man is pretty fascist too.

[Garak]

When it comes to 40k you don't have any good guys. There might be decent or even nice individuals but whatever faction they work for is anything but good. In any other setting the Imperium would be the most evil thing to ever exist. Here? There's way worse than whatever the Imperium does (Chaos and Dark Eldar being on top of the super evil list).

To quote TV Tropes:


In the distant past, humanity held immeasurable power and glory, but no longer. In the waning years of the 41st millennium, the game's central faction, the Imperium of Man, is a paranoid, fascist theocratic state which spans the galaxy but is struggling mightily to maintain its grip on its territory. Its leader, known only as the Emperor, was betrayed and laid low by his most beloved son, and for more than ten millennia has been locked up in an arcane life support mechanism that anchors his soul in his withered corpse and requires the souls of psychic humans to be consumed in the thousands per day as fuel. Since then, he has become the godhead of the Imperium, and the incomprehensibly vast Ecclesiarchy spreads the Imperial Cult and commits horrible atrocities in his name (but against his philosophy) on an almost-daily basis. The Space Marines (capricious, fanatical, genetically engineered Knight Templar Super Soldiers) and the Sisters of Battle (equally fanatical, pyromaniacal battle nuns) serve as the Imperium's special forces, while the Imperial Guard, its trillions-strong regular army, takes disregard for human life to new and interesting extremes. A futuristic Inquisition ruthlessly hunts down anyone with even the slightest taint of the heretic, the mutant, or the alien, even going as far as destroying entire planets, just to be sure. Science and technology have scarcely progressed for ten thousand years, partly because they are treated with fear, ignorance and magical superstition, and partly because the Adeptus Mechanicus, the secretive, deranged machine cult that maintains the Imperium's technological base, generally sees innovation as blasphemy against the wisdom of the ancients. The Warp, a corrupted parallel dimension connected to the material universe, provides the Imperium's only means of Faster-Than-Light Travel, but traversing it is incredibly dangerous due to the Warp's disregard for the laws of reality, the prospect of being ripped apart by daemons should a vessel's protections fail, and the requirement of a specific kind of mutated human to perceive both the currents of the Warp and the Astronomican, a navigation beacon controlled by the Emperor's soul; should it fail, the worlds of humanity would essentially be stranded, and the Imperium would wither and die.

As bad as the Imperium is, however, all the other major factions are just as bad, if not far worse. The Eldar, an ancient, mysterious and manipulative race nearly destroyed by the fallout from their ancestors' decadence, are best known for contriving wars that see billions from other species dead to spare mere thousands of their own that fate, while their depraved cousins, the Dark Eldar, happily perpetuate mass slaughter and Cold-Blooded Torture, both trying to stave off the hellish afterlife looming over their entire race. The Tyranids, an extra-galactic race of ever-hungering virus-like monstrosities guided by an animalistic but highly intelligent Hive Mind, are rampaging across the galaxy, consuming everything they come across (including planets' biospheres) to evolve and become stronger. The Necrons, The Remnant of an ancient alien civilization transformed into vast legions of undying warriors made of living metal and possessing incredibly advanced technology, are awakening after millions of years of slumber to reclaim a galaxy they see as rightfully theirs and scour away the taint of organic life. The Orks, a genetically-engineered warrior species infesting every corner of the galaxy, cheerfully battle anything that might give them a good fight — including each other, if nothing better presents itself — because it's literally hard-wired into their genetic code to do so... and because it's fun. The T'au, a comparatively small and young race with an insurgent cross-species empire on the galaxy's fringe, readily seek new allies through diplomacy, but are reputed to absorb those who refuse through orbital bombardment, concentration camps and possibly mind control, all to further their philosophy of the "Greater Good".

Worst of all are the Chaos Gods, four ruthless, destructive deities who can only exist in the Warp, but are the root cause for most of the setting's darkness. Sustained by the beliefs and emotions of living beings, they exude a deadly energy force that taints anything it comes into contact with, including people's bodies, minds and the ground under their feet. Their fighting forces, which include Chaos Cultists (humans, mutants and aliens perverted into Chaos worship), Chaos Daemons (fragments of the Chaos Gods given life, who are well-known for their capacity to strike deals with, manipulate and possess people) and Chaos Space Marines (heretical Space Marines who have turned against the Imperium for a variety of reasons, including greed and lust for power but also disillusionment and revenge), sow ruin and bloodshed wherever they go. Most infamously, the forces of Chaos frequently rip open portals and large rifts into the material plane from which they emerge to wage war, the most recent of which stretches across the entire galaxy and has split the Imperium in two.

This post has been edited by Garak: 03 October 2020 - 05:32 PM

[Garak]

Mostly yes. Orks are big green and violent. Their technology also only works because they believe it should - it's Mad Max + levels of batshit insane. They are the comic relief. The Eldar are basically high elves, but this bunch keep the souls of their dead in spirit stones so as to avoid the afterlife. The dark eldar are dark elves and the ammount of evil they go for is .... well, drow (dark elves from D&D) are goddamn cuddly by comparison.

There are tons of lore videos you can listen to, some more serious than others.

For example:
https://www.youtube....h?v=vSHUNrX7omc

Majorkill about the various Eldar (he's on the less serious end of the scale but the lore is correct) or this one about the Death Korps of Kreig (Guard regiment from the world of Krieg) which is so heavily on the serious end it's presented as a documentary drama

https://www.youtube....h?v=1ZknI3DYsL8

The setting is insanely massive and there are a ton of books (quality varies and also depends on what you're looking for). Feel free to ask questions about anything.

This post has been edited by Garak: 03 October 2020 - 06:01 PM

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 03 October 2020 - 09:51 PM, said:

Got about 12 pgs done on a short break. Love the action. It’s going to be fantastic once I’m not so utterly lost. Action is like WWI, Band of Brothers and Starship Troopers scrambled together so far and I’m only like 74 pgs in.

You ain’t seen NOTHING yet. It only gets more and more epic.

EDIT: GODDAMIT BK, now I’m tantalized by a Gaunt re-read!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 03 October 2020 - 10:04 PM

[amphibian]

Briar King, on 03 October 2020 - 10:29 PM, said:

Go for it. I’m curious how people find rereads of these books. Is it mind blowing like Malazan or just a fun time like SW EU..

Mostly just a fun time. The only books in this universe that reward re reads are the middle to later Gaunt's Ghosts. The other series are fun times, not deeper stuff.

[Macros]

Super tempted at a reread now too. Damnit!



I'd say a short synopsis of the imperium of man is thus - take every dictator, corrupt regime and corporate nightmare of indoctrination, mash it all up into one over blown but depressingly believable (in universe) set up, with an actual real external threat and you got imperium of man

[Macros]

Once it hits pace the series generally doesn't relent

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 06 October 2020 - 02:54 PM, said:

The fuck am I reading a war book or a 30’s style gansta book?

Yeah, that first book has some very 30's/40's style stuff that happens.

[Garak]

The first two books are Abnett still figuring things out. And well, Rawne was shady even back on Tanith. He's still awesome.

These people were also just average civillians before the Tanith regiments were formed. Guard regiments range from super professional to rag-tag bunch of mistifts and anything in-between. Also sometimes they hate the livings guts out of each other. For everything from personal reasons, to cultural ones (any regiment full of nobles is going to be arrogant as heck and disdaine everyone else are peasants).

This post has been edited by Garak: 06 October 2020 - 06:46 PM

[Macros]

You bastards, I opened TtH last night in my Kobo, looked at the male, remembered I have all my ghosts books on there and started First and Only instead.

Up for a pee now, supposed to be lying in napping due to working night shift tonight, so tempted to keep reading

[T77]

I'm reading Necropolis now and it is a brutal siege. So, things do change from books 1 and 2.

[Macros]

Grah, ghost maker isn't on my Kobo for some reason

[Maark Abbott]

Dis freed luks lyk it'z fulla stoopad umiez wot dunt lyk a WAAAGH good an proppa.

[Garak]

This thread looks like it's full of stupid humans who don't like a good and proper war/fight/barcrawl. - That's how the orks talk.

[Tsundoku]

I thought that was how Maark's voice-to-text came out when he didn't use Google translate ...

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 09 October 2020 - 01:59 PM, said:

Met an Inquisitor last night. On pg 160.

Not the last time Gaunt and Co. will run across/afoul of the Inquisition.

[Garak]

Not everyone can be Caiphas Cain and have a... different... interaction with the Inquisition.

[Garak]

Inquisitors are the scary as fuck. They have the authority to commandeer any imperial resources they wish (though even they know better than to boss around the Adeptus Astartes - the Space Marines). They can order whole worlds purged of life. And they answer only to each other and the Emperor.

The one seen here is a total prick if i recall. The Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies by Abnett give a good look at them and how they function.

[QuickTidal]

I feel there is something we should explain to BK about the Inquisition.

As fascist and bad as they are...one of their goals is avoidance of Chaos taking hold in individuals.

And I have a good example. A long running fan theory is that the film EVENT HORIZON is a sort of Warhammer “The Warp” sneak peek...in that film, the crew of the ship with the gravity drive succumbed to the pure chaos and demons of another dimension they travelled through while using said drive...at one point video is briefly shown that the crew tore each other apart while also sexing each other to death...under the influence of the beings of that chaos dimension...all because the drive opened that gate to that chaos...

THAT is what the Inquisition is trying to stop taking root in individuals and planets across the Imperium.

And that is why travel through the warp requires a psychic pilot, AND a generated Gellar field buffer around the ships to keep them unaffected by the Warp and by Chaos.

Worth noting as the Gaunt series references Chaos a lot and how it affects individuals...so you should know what’s at stake when it does.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 12 October 2020 - 10:06 PM