What is the basic lore for Warhammer 40k?
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Pure folly. Waste of time and creativity. Warhammer 40k is a franchise created by Games Workshop (GW) in 1987 to market its wargames, and is no longer synonymous with GW’s other Big Game, the massive battle game Warhammer Fantasy Battle 40kD6.
Part sci-fi fantasy and part high fantasy battlefield game, it depicts a future Earth where vast populations don’t live peacefully as they do in the present day – where humanity has been destroyed by psychic forces that originated from deep within the Warp – but instead fight over resources while adhering to dogmatic societal rules like ‘the greater good or survival of the fittest’.
The Great Rift is widening, and it has proven hard to tell friend from foe. Ten thousand years of unending war have shattered the galaxy in two-and when the Rifts grow, worlds die. A new terror seeps into the nothingness between planets and navigators can sense that creatures are intruding on our realm with malefic intent-and some will not go back alone.
Every Primarch would have his own retinue of auxiliary Space Marines from their homeworlds or other conquered worlds; these units served as elite squads for special missions outside a Legion’s primary area of combat specialization. The First Captain was first amongst equals among all officers, which means he would also be chief officer aboard any ship in which the Primarch himself was present. Each Legion had its own elite 1 st Company, referred to as “The Headsmen,” to serve under the First Captain.
Unlike other Legions, Imperial Fists did not have a dedicated Scout Company because Rogal Dorn believed that rigid adherence to formalized ranks went against the Legion’s nature and would rob its warriors of their best assets: initiative and improvisation. The First Captain was in charge of training new recruits, advising the Chapter Master on matters where the First Company might be involved, and commanding his own company if it were deployed away from other elements of the Imperial Fists.
If you ignore all the belligerents and races outside of humanity, then humans as a whole, whether in their trillions or more, were the losers of the “Unification Wars” between 25th and 27th millennia. The civilization operated by mankind, from its peaks onwards to obscurity was too complicated for any one person to comprehend. Inevitably even if you knew there was an enemy coming your way it was already too late because they had infiltrated from inside through lies and treachery. The invaders came with unimaginable weapons that not only reduced organic matter to ash but broke down mass conservation so that not even nuclear warheads were safe; no amount of conventional warfare could hope to halt them even for a moment.
The Warhammer 40,000 universe is used as a science fantasy background for the wargames Warhammer 40,000 (aka “40k”) and Dark Heresy created by Games Workshop. It has been used extensively in two other Role Playing Games, Rogue Trader and Necromunda and also features heavily in two big pieces of computer tech lore; the action RPG games Chaos Gate and Epic Pinball.
It was originally created as a setting for tabletop wargames which were published solely by Games Workshop but at present it is both licensed to and produced by various past companies with the aid of successor company The Black Library entertainment division who has adapted the entire range into an enormous body of literature, not just gaming products but this fiction extends into the realms of literature and computer games as well.
Warhammer 40k is a dark, futuristic version of Earth. The game follows the Imperium division into a military dictatorship and an Emperor cult (that worships the original ruler of Earth before its ruin). Order must be maintained at any cost.
Text-only answer: Warhammer 40k is set in a future earth where there was an emperor who told everyone that god was dead, so people believed him because they thought he knew everything (even though he didn’t) and he made all these rules for their new society.
The Warhammer 40K Universe is an immense distopian vision of the future. In this future, human civilisation has advanced to great heights but even greater depths.
Come to the Dark Imperium and you will find heresy rampant in a galaxy on the brink of total devastation. This galaxy is much different than it was before the so-called Emperor’s Great Crusade of 1997 aka The Age Of The Imperium which ushered in ten thousand years of prosperity with equal measures order and safety under His wise and benevolent rule. Now, billions live under vile oppression or abuse as psykers, mutant abominations, xenos scum fill every corner corrupting all they touch while mysterious forces stir in the Eastern Fringes intent on conquest or destruction for their own unknowable ends.
In the future, Mankind battles for survival in a corrupt, authoritarian Imperium as Xenos loom large in the background. This is primarily based on information from the Horus Heresy series and only comes from one writing perspective.
In Warhammer 40k humanity has been battling against itself for centuries when a warp storm (caused by Chaos Daemons) tears through reality allowing “Xenos” to care about things like matter, or flesh, or even thought. The Imperium as we know it crumbles, with space marines abandoning their posts in pursuit of power while “Xenos” look on – waiting and preparing to gain dominance over scarred earth once more.
Warhammer 40k was launched in 1987 and has since grown into a vast, successful franchise – that no one, least of all us long-term fans who have followed the storyline from the start, can really understand.
A cult classic turns 25 years old this year. The year is about to end and we’re still trying to find out what’s going on. And not just with any one story-line but with pretty much every individual narrative at large. As we try to decode our immersion through time, memory serves as a pleasant damsel in distress; although it may seem like she’s reaching for something very far away from us now, it would be best if we remember that at least someone feels for our ailment.
Warhammer 40,000 is the sci-fi version of a wider game called Warhammer Fantasy Battle. This tabletop wargame takes place in a grim future where various human civilizations are left to fend for themselves against the hostile alien forces of Chaos; these forces strive to bring about the end of their own universe and cause as much misery as possible in the process. Human militaries from Earth have been banding together in an effort known as “The Imperium” with the goal of driving back and destroying all Chaos forces on every planet they inhabit – humanity’s survival depends on this constant struggle. There are many different races within The Imperium, including humans (often called Imperial or Space Marines), Orks, undead (called Tomb Kings), and elves (known as Demiurg). As is to be expected from the title, there are also many different races of aliens that occupy various corners of the known universe. These can range from a number of insect-like species such as the Tyranids, a race of space locusts that consume entire star systems, to the godlike Tau race that are highly advanced technologically; these races seek to either help humanity thrive against their enemies or bring about its utter annihilation.
Warhammer 40k—the future of the Imperium is a dark and terrible place. The Emperor, immobile on his Golden Throne after the Horus Heresy and interference in the Webway Project led to his ruinous transformation, throws an evil empire armed with murderous creations that can spew death over all others.
The galaxy is crowded with Imperial military forces – including millions of ad hoc soldiers known as Darkshrouds that were created during the Soul Drinker wars – but in truth their wretched legion has grown too numerous to fully comprehend. Warlords stride through worlds without opposition while space itself splits open into Warp rifts which spill forth daemons from beyond time. Still the human race stands against them with heroes like Lucius the Eternal, Chapter Master of the Death Hawks, who slays a hundred daemons with each swing of his burning blade.
The Imperium is populated by billions across many worlds and several factions. Dark Eldar plague the galaxy from their dark city of Commorragh while Inquisitors roam from one world to another purging heretics or using their Daemonhosts to try and stamp out corruption.
Space Marines, genetically engineered super soldiers, are the Imperium’s greatest weapon against the darkness of Warhammer 40k. Across their fortress Monastery world of Titan they train for war and behave as noble warriors ready to lay down their lives in the greater good. Over a million chapters exist – each with different styles and focus yet all bonded together by unshakable loyalty to the Emperor.