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The Imperium of Man

2020-06-13T04:14:40Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: Undo revision 664254 by 2601:197:B7F:E0C0:ECC6:61A0:1FBE:AF39 (talk)

{{Infobox 40k Nations
|name=Imperium of Man
|image=[[Image:Imperium_Flag.jpg ‎|300px|center]]
|Capital=[[Holy Terra]]
|Official Languages= High Gothic (aka Latin), Low Gothic (aka English/French/German/Italian/Russian/Chinese/Literally Every Language) and its countless dialects, Binary and billions of minor and local languages
|Power=Galactic Superpower
|Size=Galactic but stretched thin More than 1 million to 10 million planets
|Head of State=[[Emperor of Mankind]]
|Head of Government=[[Roboute Guilliman|Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman]], [[High Lords of Terra]], [[Dante|Lord Regent of Imperium Nihilus Dante]]
|Governmental Structure=Unitary Atheistic Authoritarian Absolute Monarchy (''Great Crusade'') Feudal Totalitarian Theocratic Dictatorship (''Age of Apostasy'') Feudal Theocratic Authoritarian Confederated Oligarchy (''41st Millennium'') Unitary Authoritarian Semi-Theocratic Confederation (''42nd Millennium'')
|State Religion/Ideology=[[Imperial Truth|State Atheism]] (''Great Crusade'') [[Imperial Cult]] (''32nd Millennium onward'')
|Demographic=[[Humans]], [[Abhuman|Abhumans]], minor [[Xenos]] races, assorted Transhumans
|Military Force=[[Imperial Guard]], [[Space Marines]], [[Militarum Tempestus]], [[Sisters of Battle]], [[Inquisition]], [[Planetary Defense Force]]
}}
{{Topquote|What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?|Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2}}
{{Topquote|Great empires are not maintained by timidity.|Tacitus}}
{{Topquote|This bloated, rotten carcass of an empire is driven not by reason and hope, but by fear, hate and ignorance.|[[Roboute Guilliman]], who is [[Butthurt|not pleased]] by the [[Grimdark|actual state]] of the Imperium}}
[[File:Imperial Aquila.jpg|thumb|300px|left|The Aquila, the symbol of the Imperium and personal heraldry of the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]]. Failing to show proper reverence to the Aquila is [[heresy]] punishable by *BLAM*ing. The two heads represent looking towards the future while being [[Imperial Truth|blind towards the mistakes of the past]], while the two heads and differing feet represent the Terra-Mars alliance.]]
The '''Imperium of Man''' (Lat.: '''IMPERIVM HVMANVM''' or '''IMPERIVM HOMINIS''') is a gigantic, galaxy-spanning Civilization (to give you an idea of how truly massive this empire is, the most conservative estimates place its population at four quadrillion. Estimates that take into account the huge number of what are essentially [[Hive|cramped apartment-building planets]]? Now we're talking upwards of FORTY quadrillion. Oh, and this is not counting planets they have lost track of due to various heresies and other catastrophies, not to mention the general incompetence of those [[Administratum|blasted pencil-push]]{{BLAM}}) that contains the vast majority of humanity in the tabletop game ''[[Warhammer 40K]]''. It is often stereotyped in popular media as a xenophobic, amoral, gargantuan, militaristic, merciless, stratified, theocratic, [[Paranoia|paranoid, dystopian, totalitarian]], semi-police state and hellishly oligarchical bureaucracy. Why this is called 'stereotypical' to begin with is questionable though since it's absolutely fucking true{{BLAM}} Think of a hideous amalgamation of the [[Roman Empire]] including Byzantine Era with its sheer amount of scheming and administrative stupidity, pre-Reformation Catholic Church, [[Nazi|Nazi Germany]], Imperial Japan, Soviet Russia and George Orwell's ''[[1984]]'' spread out across the stars, under constant attack by aliens and subject to countless [[Chaos|disasters]] everyday. Add in the fanatical worship of a [[Emperor|dead dictator]] and it's basically North Korea IN SPEHSS (but somehow fucking works).

However, this is what [[GW]] ''wants you to think''; in all retrospective outside of the popular perspective, the Imperium of Man can actually be a pretty nice place to live depending on where you actually live... although GW description does apply to Death Worlds, some Hive Worlds and the Imperium as a whole. Sure, there are shit-holes like Catachan, but because of its size and extreme variety, you also have a higher chance of being born in places that shits all over any modern developed country and may even be led by people better than Gandhi. While it's plausible that atrocities happen all the time in the Imperium, given its size, that doesn't mean that everyone is always doomed. Unfortunately Games Workshop decided to ignore this aspect since it is not [[Derp|metal and grimderp]] enough...and thus does not help with [[Profit|sales]].

Almost everything 40K related and homebrewed on this website is a sterling example of /tg/ taking creative liberties with what the Imperium stands for. These include, but are not limited to, the [[Angry Marines]], [[Commissar Raege]], [[Commissar Fuklaw]], [[Pretty Marines]], [[Reasonable Marines]]... Truly, anonymous delivers!

==Synopsis==
[[File:Iron Men 40k.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The [[Iron Men]] are credited with fucking humanity right over, just like the [[Old Ones]] did with the rest of the galaxy's inhabitants.]]
The Imperium consists of over a million habitable worlds and is of such size that the loss of a few dozen planets (along with billions of citizens) is not even worth the paperwork it would take to declare said worlds Perdatus. Under constant threat and attack by a myriad of powerful alien races and traitorous forces, the Imperium is engulfed in a constant galaxy-spanning war. The everyday rule of the Imperium is left to the [[High Lords of Terra]], who basically don't give a fuck about anybody and have no clue what the hell they're doing half of the time.

The figurehead and subject of compulsory religious veneration, the immortal [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] forged the Imperium out of the [[Age of Strife]]. Being physically fucked for the past 10,000 years, he sits immobile and connected to the Golden Throne far from the sight of his subjects, witnessed his formerly [[Star Trek|glorious utopia of science and reason]] drop 99.9% of its IQ points against his will, and requires the sacrifice of many psykers a day to keep him alive, though this hasn't prevented his body from decomposing (he still has some fleshy bits left) and now looks like a mummy without the wrappings. [[Heresy]] is the greatest crime one can commit in the Imperium, the punishment for which is a painful death or torture followed by a painful death. Technology is barely understood and basically mythological, and even the Techpriests are afraid of their machines (this aspect of the Techpriests has been lessened over the years, now they're more like spiritualistic and very dogmatic scientists rather than technowizards.)

[[Image:Forbidden_Love.jpg|thumb|right|This would never happen. Ever. At least, not where anyone could see it.]]
The Imperium is also one of the biggest entities in the 40k universe, like a fatguy that hogs half the couch for himself and forces the others to sit on the arm rests. Some fa/tg/uys theorize that if the Imperium falls it may take the rest of the galaxy with it, as it holds so much territory that it staves off the Tyranids and the Orks before they can nom/loot everyone else's shit. (e.g. Dawn of War II, Spess Mahreens nuke the Tyranid fleet before they can nom an Eldar Craftworld.)

It's now a complete shithole and is not even remotely close to the Emperor's vision for humanity. Reasons for this include the Imperium's leaders being heartless fuckwads and the necessity of such an uncaring organization for the survival of humanity in a galaxy that wants to kill them in a million painful ways.

That's fucking grimdark, but at least there's Slaanesh to lighten everything u-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an approved author. +}}

Well, honestly, Nurgle is at least a pretty nice gu-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Well, at least we have Tzee-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Kho-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. ++ And for fucks sake please stop mentioning the cha--}}
{{BLAM}}

===Roboute Guilliman in M42===
With the events of Gathering Storm and the Dark Imperium, the awakening of [[Roboute Guilliman|Big Blue Wonder]] ushered sweeping changes within the governmental ruling of the Imperium. Roboute's self coronation as Lord Commander (His old job) and political reforms that meant the firing of some High Lords of Terra meant that the IoM is becoming more centralized like it was during the Great Crusade.

Of course, centralization means a more authoritarian Imperium. Nevertheless, Guilliman is the best living person to be given the responsibility in fixing the bureaucratic nightmare of the Imperium, so there is little reason to panic. One of the biggest reasons the vast majority of the Imperial Guard spends entire careers fighting rebelling worlds instead of humanity’s enemies is because each planet is highly autonomous and their governments simply blame the Imperium for the hardships caused by the greed of those worlds’ nobles and governors. So, an Imperium with greater authority and control over its worlds would increase efficiency and effectiveness of planetary governments in the Imperium’s usual inefficient methods; then the eighty percent of Imperial Guard forces fighting rebels can go banhammer aliens and daemons instead. Some (including the High Lords themselves, to the surprise of nobody) consider Roboute's rule as a dictatorship (not like they can honestly stop him since he has a blood claim to the throne and effectively controls all Space Marines and Custodes), but the reality is that whilst the Imperium is centralizing in a manner akin to how it was in the Great Crusade, certain political entities such as the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition still holds significant clout and influence over the Imperium. With Guilliman currently updating his new Codex Imperialis for good governance and ruling, it is safe to say that the quality of life for the Imperium would be slowly improving. Of course, the vastness and sheer diversity of the IoM combined with the unwillingness of the above-mentioned political entities to accept reform means that the actual results are ''far'' more complicated than this. Nonetheless, the very fact that Guilliman's rule is actively trying to improve the Imperium with mixed results shows that the Imperium unlike traditional oppressive regimes, still have a chance for the better. It would still be the Imperium we know and love, but it would be far more efficient and competent, since efficiency and competency was the biggest crutch on why the Imperium is in such a dire situation. Resistance to Guilliman’s reforms would most likely be met by a visit from loyal Inquisitors and the Inquisitor’s who plot against his reforms would probably be vanished by Raven Guard sent by Guilliman. Anyone in the way of his plans would simply...disappear or end up mysteriously dead. Primarchs are not known for taking shit. Or for accepting “no” as an answer to their orders.

Furthermore, it seems that the jingoistic foreign policy of the Imperium towards xenos for 10,000 years has relaxed slightly in favor of pragmatism on Robby's part, most exemplified by the current alliance of convenience between the Imperium and the Ynnari (It's hard to say exactly how sincere the relationship ''is''; Guilliman himself noted that the Ynnari could be respected but not necessarily trusted, and the [[Visarch]] has voiced criticism of [[Yvraine]] acting as a "lapdog of the Imperium", so while they're not fighting each other they can hardly be called the best of friends). However, it has been suggested that Big Bobby G and Yvraine are totally hot for each other and want to have crazy butt-s...OH NOT AGAIN! {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|HERESY!}} It could also be due to [[Great Rift|the giant Warp scar]] spawned from Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade and how Chaos is now a bigger threat to the Imperium than ever. G-man also appointed [[Dante]] as warden to administer the other half of the Imperium across the Great Rift.

==Forces Of The Imperium==
* [[Adeptus Custodes]] - The Emperor's personal bodyguards who make ''Space Marines'' look like ordinary men. Their armour has so much bling it makes even the most pimptastic Space Marine's Artificer Armour look cheap. Their modification and training, not to mention the loss of the Emperor, robbed most of them of empathy and the ability to form connections with other people (even each other), as the only being they trusted absolutely is now stuck between life and death. Others are quite reasonable guys, and after 10,000 years on the bench, and a minor deamon invasion of Holy Terra, they're back in the game in a big way. Anyway, they go to insane lengths and cross any moral line to ensure His safety, and are now going forth on Crusade to help guard humanity as a whole from unending terror. Grimdark.
* [[Space Marines]] - The enhanced, power armored supersoldiers who form the elite warriors of the Imperium. All they do is train, sleep, pray, fight, and die; and they love every second of it (being the loyal warrior monks they are). There are only a million of them, but since the Imperium only has about a million planets it kind of evens out. They are no longer human, and remember nothing but an endless service of bloodshed culminating in their own violent deaths. Grimdark.
[[Image:Guardsmen_fighting.jpg|thumb|right|Die horribly or Join the Guard and THEN die horribly. At least that way you'll get a sweet-looking [[Lasgun|flashlight]].]]
* [[Imperial Guard]] - The countless quadrillions of regular humans who form the vast majority of the Imperium's armed forces. Very similar to a conventional modern military, they are a bunch of manly farmers and factory workers fighting off [[Necrons|unstoppable robots with guns that completely rip their skin off]], [[Tyranids|huge monstrous aliens who want to OM NOM NOM everything]], [[Chaos Space Marines|batshit insane super humans who want to kill everyone in painful ways and sacrifice their victims' souls while doing it]], [[Orks|barbaric aliens who are made for FIGHTAN AND WINNIN']], [[Eldar|mysterious spehss pansies who don't give a shit about anyone else]], [[Dark Eldar|spehss elves who wants to torture and rape them with the worst forms of BDSM]], [[Tau|Orwellian weeaboo space communists]], or [[Rak'gol|obscure but brutal spider Cthulhu reptiles that like to rip your intestines out before stealing all your stuff]], with little more than a [[Lasgun|flashlight]], [[Tallarn Desert Raiders|reinforced cardboard]], [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|standard-issue chest-hair]] and [[Cadia|BALLS O' STEEL]]. Or that's what you might be led to believe: a big part of the Imperium's wars are fought against fellow humans (or [[Lost and the Damned|things that once were human]]) but decided they had enough of being crapped upon by greedy superiors and uncaring leaders. Selfishly ignoring the fact the Imperium has no problem with them overthrowing said greedy superiors and uncaring leaders so long as Imperial law, taxes, and tithes are obeyed. But no, that would mean admitting their own cowardice was their own fault, so they rebel against "the man" instead and "the man" curbstomps them in the face for it. Most Imperial Guardsmen are conscripted every now and then from the best Planetary Defence Force troopers on a given world. Some planets supplement this supply with prisoners, while others give over their entire population to the Imperium as their tithe, the birth rate equaling the recruitment rate. Most die or muster out and they will never again see home, unless they're fighting on it. [[Grimdark]].
[[Image:Magos_Explorator_Delphan_Gruss.jpg|thumb|right|Combat Dentists, the Mechanicum's leading specialists on tooth heresy.]]
* [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] - An organization of Tech-priests. They have a monopoly over all Imperial technology from giant mecha to cybernetics, and almost everyone else in the Imperium is afraid of their machines. As a result, the Admech has to loan their techpriests to other organizations in the form of Enginseers, though for Space Marines it's more a work study program as they'll send one of their own troops to become a Techmarine. Independent scientists also exist, but only as long as they don't get killed for [[heresy]] or stay below the Mechanicus radar. Once these independents get powerful or competent enough to make a difference, they get wiped out or absorbed into Cult Mechanicus. Includes [[Adeptus Titanicus]]‎, [[Legio Cybernetica]] (Insidious Death Robotics, Inc), Centurio [[Ordinatus]] (look at name, figure it out), [[Skitarii]] (basically Imperial Guard of the Mechanicus), Auxilia [[Myrmidon]] (tech-priest war savants, stuff of nightmares), and the Ordo Reductor (siege specialists, infamous for ripping off the Space Marines by making the [[Thallax]]). Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Navy]] - Job is pretty self-explanatory, they split with the Guard after the Horus Heresy. They are a very large organization, as you would expect from a navy tasked with protecting a million worlds. Their ships range in size from meters-long fighters to kilometers-long battleships which are quite capable of [[Exterminatus|blowing up planets]], mostly Imperial ones, which they do at the command of the Inquisition on a regular basis in the fight against '''HERESY'''. Because Humanity was ass-raped by AI 15,000 years ago, the Imperial Navy uses huge human crews, most of which are "recruited" (i.e. Shanghaied) to die in space as one of billions of expendable men. Grimderp, considering not even some hydraulic lifters are employed when reloading even though the rest of the ship is high tech.
* [[Adeptus Arbites]] - These guys police every world in the Imperium. They're like [[Judge Dredd]] but more Grimdark. Arbites are usually one of the first institutions to be set up on a world and are equipped to fight a small war, with equipment ranging from power mauls and suppression shields to lasguns and even the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]]. On the ground the Arbites have four units: Patrol Groups, whose job it is to make sure no wrongdoing occurs in the settlement; Shock Troops who are sent in when there are riots, street wars and other generalized disturbances (they usually shoot on sight if you are anywhere near the problem center); Execution Teams who pursue specific guilty individuals or groups; and Snatch Squads who are charged with capturing a specific individual or group for questioning. The criminals caught by the Arbites usually wind up dead [[Blam|one way]] [[Penal legion|or another]]. The Inquisition often uses the Arbites to apprehend certain individuals if they do not wish to be directly involved. Grimdark.
* [[Inquisition]] - The KGB of the Imperium. Their job is to keep said Imperium secure and loyal. With jurisdiction over nearly anyone and anything, the Inquisitors and their agents have very few impediments on their endless quest to contain heresy. The Inquisition consists of three main branches: the Ordo Hereticus, who's duty is to eliminate or contain threats such as '''HERESY''', mutants, and traitors; the Ordo Xenos, who specialize in destruction of alien threats, and the Ordo Malleus who are called on to stop Daemonic incursions. If they do their job poorly, entire worlds get destroyed based on the barest rumors. Alternatively, if they do their jobs well, those worlds still get destroyed because there are no other alternatives to stop the many genocidal threats the Imperium faces. Also, nobody expects them. Grimdark.
[[Image:Pimpin_Imperium.png|thumb|right|The Inquisition: not as easy as it looks.]]
* [[Sisters of Battle]] - The [[Ecclesiarchy|Ecclesiarchy's]] army, the nuns-with-guns or bolter bitches. Originally, they were an isolated all-female cult on a backwater world, and subsequently became the personal army of [[Goge Vandire]] during his fab [[Age of Apostasy|Age of Apostasy]]. After that blew over, they came into their current role through some top-notch [[rules lawyers|rules lawyering]]- after the Age of Apostasy, the Ecclesiarchy was only barred from having ''men'' under arms, so the Sisters weren't disbanded. They are trained from early age (because they are picked up as orphans) and in the end they become one of the best fighting troops of the Imperium, second only to the Astartes themselves. Their faith is so great that even Grey Knights are jealous of it. [[/tg/]] likes to see Sisters in different heretical fantasies, often involving [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh]], [[Shlicktau|female Tau]] and [[The wet dream of selena agna|Eldar Farseers]]. But what the poor bastards don't know is that the Sisters are all into [[FAIL|celibacy]] (though some lore says otherwise), love only the Emperor (sometimes it's a damn shame), and are so zealous and fanatical that they would turn off just about any human man anyway. Armed with their trusty Bolters, Meltaguns and Flamers (The Holy Trinity of weaponry as far as they're concerned), they go around the galaxy and kick Chaos/Renegades/Xenos ass as much as they can. Grimdark.
* [[Deathwatch]] - If you're an especially skilled Space Marine, or if your chapter just wants to get rid of you, the Deathwatch is always looking for new recruits to train into even more hyper-efficient xenos-killing machines. Acting on behalf of the Ordo Xenos, recruits get hypno-indoctrinated with endless videos of battle brothers getting slaughtered by all manner of xenos until they become frothing angry and need to be physically restrained. Instead of organizing into large task forces, the Deathwatch fights in small special-forces killteams to complete specific objectives and kick ass. Some of its members deliberately obscure or renounce their past ties and become [[Blackshield]]s, permanently joining the Deathwatch until death claims them. Grimdark.
* [[Grey Knights]] - You thought Space Marines were bad dudes? Well loyal citizen, Grey Knights are SUPER-Space Marines who are VERY interested in your heretical Google image searches. They function as the military arm of the Ordo Malleus. In a galaxy and time where literal demons from space hell can punch through reality and turbo-slaughter whole sectors, the Grey Knights are THE final word in supernatural defense. This was especially important since for over 10,000 years, there WERE no good Primarches around to fight the blasphemous ascended being of the week. Every bit of armor, weapon, training and gear they have is top of the line, and nigh irreplaceable. When they fight, a psychic shroud inhibits the psychic powers of whoever they are fighting, and they have psychic Nemesis Force Wea<strike>'''OH CHRIST, I CAN'T GO ON, THIS SHIT IS BANANAS!'''</strike> {{BLAM|Ignore Matt Ward's bullshit, stop making shitty references to Zero Punctuation, and finish the damn article! Psychic Psychic Bendy Spoons.}} Aside from their anti-anti-anti Chaos gear, Grey Knights aren't typically who you send to stop a cult. They're the guys you send to clean up a Chaos defiled planet with boiling oceans, poisonous air, psychedelic skies, and more bones than living people on them. Grimdark. And yet, no Grey Knight has EVER fallen to Chaos. Which is [[awesome]].
* [[Officio Assassinorum]] - The coolest (and scariest) men and women in the Imperium. Whose job it is to kill people. While one would think this would overlap with the duties of every other Imperial organization, it is different because the Assassinorum trains spies and assassins to be more subtle, such as [[Tzeentch|manipulating people to do your dirty work while totally not aware you are behind it]]. Except when they train batshit insane [[Eversor]] Assassins. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a paradox. Leaving no survivors to tell the tale is [[Oinkbane|a subtlety all in itself]]. Grimdark.
* [[Sisters of Silence]] - The militant arm of the Astra Telepathica, they are all Blanks and refuse to speak but are deadly enough to take down any psyker threat and to travel with the likes of [[Leman Russ]] and the Custodes. As you can imagine they feature in some pretty badass artwork but sadly have very little work dedicated to them. It is unknown if they survived the end of the Great Crusade but there have been no indications to the contrary. Given that the Inquisition and Culexus Temple exist their role is partly redundant, but may be justified in that by being under the direct authority of the branch that deals with Psykers it allows a faster and more standardized way of handling Psykers, plus neither zealous assault forces or assassins would exactly fit the job description. Grimdark (?). With the return of Guilliman to the Imperium we now know that the sisters did indeed survive, although they were officially disbanded as a fighting force. Nothing like getting fired the day after your dad dies. Understandably upset, many simply wandered off into the sunset, but a large number stayed to crew the [[Black Ships]] that go around collecting psykers to feed to the Emperor. With Rawbutt Girlyman's return, the Emo Sisters have started to fight on the frontlines again, serving as anti-psyker defense and notably fighting alongside their best bros the Custodes for the first time in 10,000 years (maybe). Considering how bad [[grimdark|the state of the galaxy is]] due to the [[Great Rift]], their job has become wayyyyy busier than ever before.

===Other organizations===
* [[Administratum]] - The pencil pushers of the Imperium, complete with bureaucrats so devoted to their trade that they treat it like a religion, and massive inefficiency. They regulate the [[Imperial Guard]] and the [[Imperial Navy]], dictate and assess the Tithes all worlds in the Imperium are required to pay to Holy Terra, and administer how those things get used. Their archives are so big and so full that if you search anything in them, you'll die wrapped in endless layers of red tape, if you're not accompanied by an Adept. Grimdark.
* [[Ecclesiarchy]] - The Imperial Church which works with the Inquisition to regulate the worship of the Emperor and define what counts as '''HERESY'''. Basically priests with flamethrowers and mega-chainsaws. It also oversees the Sisters of Battle and the [[Schola Progenium]], and works closely with the [[Ordo Hereticus]]. Often has a complicated relationship with the other members branches of the Imperium (Space Marines insisting that the Emperor was a human, the Administratum for overall control of the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus worshiping a deity that ''should'' be the Emprah or not, etc.). Grimdark.
* [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] - The organization charged with maintaining the Imperium's vast network of [[psyker|psykers]], who are necessary for faster than light travel and keeping the Emperor alive on the Golden Throne. Their members are oftentimes forcibly conscripted children who have just barely survived being lynched on their homeworld, and were lucky enough not to be mulched into Emperor Food or Astronomicon fuel. Even so, the process to become a sanctioned psyker is physically and emotionally scaring, and can still lead to a grizzly death via headsplosion, possession, or just losing complete control of your sanity. Grimdark.
* [[Astronomican|Adeptus Astronomican]] - The organization charged with maintaining the light of the Astronomican, the psychic beacon for traveling through the [[Warp]]. Sacrifices assloads of psykers every day to keep the Astronomican running and literally the only thing keeping the entire Imperium from winking out like a candle. Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Knight]]s - The Imperial Knights are the lords of feudalistic worlds where the rulers and the military forces are one and the same, piloting massive combat mecha into battle to defend their worlds or to aid the Imperium. Usually have strong ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Grimdark.
* [[Squat]]s - A [[Dwarf|dwarfish]] race of technologically advanced [[abhuman]]s descended from mining colonists on high gravity planets, their worlds were the only other independent Imperial worlds besides Admech's forge worlds prior to integration into the Imperium from the Tyranids war. Their forces complemented that of the Adeptus Mechanicus' and the [[Imperial Guard]], with a tendency towards [[Colossus War Machine|giant-sized]] [[Land Train|war]] [[Goliath Mega-Cannon|machines]]. Their populations are now greatly diminished due to various reasons. Grimdark.

==Reasons it sucks to live in the Imperium==
{{heresy}}
{{Topquote|Call no man happy until he is dead.|Thought for the day. Also Aeschylus}}
[[File:Lord General.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Imperial Guard generals are some of the sexiest men alive, <s>and the worst part is that almost all of them are celibate</s> Lies, all lies!...On an unrelated note, this is one of [[Dawn of War 2#Imperial Guard|General Castors]] earlier designs.]]
* The High Lords of Terra are brutal and manipulative.
* The Adeptus Arbites make Judge Dredd seem reasonable.
* Thinking about nothing is the only way to survive. Unless you think about the steely musculature and long, shimmering hair of the Emperor.
* The Hive World you almost certainly live on is an overcrowded shithole where being able to breathe non-recycled air is a luxury.
* Thinking about nothing implies you're thinking, and thinking is '''HERESY'''.
* You are constantly under attack by Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, the forces of Chaos, Space Communists, etc.
* If you mutate, you will be at best shunned, but most likely killed, and even death is not the worst case scenario.
* Voices in your sleep keep telling you that Chaos is great, at which point an Inquisitor kills you whether you resist the temptations or not.
* Priests keep telling you the Imperium is great and then report you for not attending the entirety of your third mass service of the designated planetary worship day, at which point you are executed by local law enforcement.
* If you aren't in the Navy you are in the Imperial Guard, which means you will either die painfully on the battlefield or be executed by a Commissar for not being loyal enough to die on the battlefield. Seriously, many worlds hold your funeral the day before departure, people mourn your passing while you are standing next to them, and you are considered to be already dead.
* Your planetary governor is incompetent, ruthless, heretical or just very greedy (if you're lucky). Any that aren't are rarer than an Ork that doesn't WAAAAGH!, and either dead or about to be killed by one or more of the Imperium's enemies (or someone else from the Imperium).
* Even if you DO win the war via sheer hard-work, chances are that you are sterilized and shipped to a labor camp because you MIGHT have the taint of Chaos. And killed.
* Your whole life consists of working your ass off with no hope of social advancement. Unless you're a noble, in which case nothing in this list applies to you anyway.
* You can be executed for taking incorrect care of your gun and angering the Machine Spirit. And that assumes the Machine Spirit doesn't kill you first.
* Loyalist Space Marines never get laid, eve-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

* If you happen to be an Inquisitor, you are expected to watch whatever you order. Vomiting is '''HERESY'''.
* Technology scares you. Not much of a change, though is it?
* You are poor and uneducated. Isn't a change, either.
*If and when you die, the chances that anyone will ever give a shit about your death are nearly nonexistent. Again, nor much of a change there either.
* The Orks might eventually (re)unite and destroy the Imperium.
* The Necrons will eventually awaken and might destroy the Imperium.
* Chaos cannot be defeated and will probably destroy the Imperium sooner or later.
* Tyranids are pouring in from nearly all sides of the galaxy and will probably destroy the Imperium through the power of OMNOM.
* If you're not dead in the Guard, dead in the Navy, very dead in the PDF, or dead as a civilian, you're a heretic and alien-sympathizer. Therefore executed, and therefore dead.
* The Imperium routinely cleanses Xeno species. So if you're a wandering Eldar Craftworld or even a minor xenos race on a conquered planet expect no sympathy or even a quick death.
* Independence is nonexistent, and the Imperium has even destroyed two perfectly healthy, anti-chaos empires called Adrantis Five and Interex, granted the second one they destroyed thanks to Chaos bullshit, [[derp|whoops!]]
** The first was due to a mis-identification by over-eager Imperial Psychotic Killers, and given that the second was a civilization that had a race who created Chaos artifacts, including the big one that led to Horus' corruption, that's arguably a good thing since they might as well have been a ticking time bomb.
* Incompetence is also nonexistent, and if you show competence, you are imbued by the Chaos Gods and therefore executed for Heresy.
* Thinking ANY model is sexy is obvious heresy.
* And let's not even get started on what it's like if you're on the wrong side of the [[Great Rift]].
* Either you work, or you die. It's that simple. SO BACK TO THE MANUFACTORUMS AND STOP READING NOW!!!
**If by some shred of luck you don't get executed for dereliction of duty, then the lasgun you didn't make while slacking off meant that a Guard Regiment got equipped too late to be deployed to save your world.

==However, is the Imperium really ''that'' bad?==
[[File:8eb60203712e469761aeba78ec3c78ec-d7904b7.jpg|350px|thumb|left|Because the only way to keep a [[Roman Empire|stagnating empire]] alive is with excessive force (Ah, but where's the Roman Empire now?) Also, note the [[Imperator Titan|walking cathedral]] several miles in the background that's still bigger than the [[baneblade]] at the front.]]

{{Topquote|[[Noblebright|A line must be drawn between what is good and what is evil]], for if the [[Chaos|Great Enemy]] comes with offers of power to a wretch, what reason does he have to refuse hell if he dwells in it already?|[[Roboute Guilliman|Robu]] telling [[Dante|Luis]] the most obvious thing yet apparently missed for ten millennia of imperial history.}}

However, as said before, if you excuse GW's initial promotion that life in the Imperium must be "Tough and Dark", then average life in the Imperium for the common Joe is for all intents and purposes, uncomfortable and highly unpleasant, but ultimately tolerable for its people (as opposed to those of us in M3 who would likely lack the temperament or the constitution to do well in such a life). This can be further explained below....

===The Reality of the Imperium===
Throughout WH40K, nearly every-single grimdark example in the fluff is shown through the narrative perspective of either Space Marines and Inquisitors whose primary job is to fight against [[Chaos|WTF-Horror Eldritch Abominations]] and [[Orks|genocidal aliens]] for every single day of their lives, or of criminals, crooks and scum such as those living within the darkest pits in Hive Worlds like [[Necromunda]]. Of which, there are only about thirty-two thousand and something hundreds in ratio to the several hundreds of thousands of Civilized Worlds which are the planetary majority in the Imperium - the odds of being born in a desolated dump is actually quite low, and if you are born there, the only thing you need to be wary of are Gang fights and Mutants, and that's only if you are dumb enough to venture in the Underhive or unlucky enough to be born <s>poor</s> there (the poor can still get labor jobs in manufactoria or wherever else or enlist in the PDF and such; worlds are never lacking for jobs needing filling or soldiers to hold the fort). Life as a Middle-Class Imperial (which are the majority in Hive Worlds) is often plain and simple (if boring and repetitive) with your average wage, average working job and with your average necessities in life such as TV (level of propaganda vary) or food (might be artificially processed), and since there is always a demand for workers at some level, unemployment ratios would actually be quite small (unlike real-life, you don't have to fear automation and new technologies taking your job and the Imperium always needs more menial laborers). If you're in the Imperial Guard, the chances of being sent into an eternal meat grinder is actually quite slim, if the Imperium's size and speed is taken into perspective. Although some policies within the Imperium would be regarded as immoral or "Crimes Against Humanity" in today's world, take note that what the Imperium does is a necessary evil. They know what they're doing is morally questionable, but they have to do it since they have no other choice and in the grim setting of WH40K, this is the only solution to be dealt with for the betterment of Humanity as a whole. Unlike every single other being in the entire setting, the Imperium actually knows its necessary evils ''are'' evil and bemoans this fact but grits its teeth and does it anyway, determined to make sure what was done has meaning and was never in vain. This is why, outside of mainstream Sci-Fi where we see Aliens or some entities destroying a planet full of people for no other reason but for the [[Lulz|evulz]], in the Imperium, you see none of that, as in their point of view, to destroy a planet without a justified cause is seen as incredibly wasteful and sinful as you are technically "Wasting the Emperor's resources" (which, ironically enough, can lead to you getting executed,so its something most people try to avoid). There is even a small Ordo of the Inquisition whose job is to investigate exterminatus (planet boom) events and determine whether or not it was justified. About eighty percent of the Inquisitors who order exterminatus are executed by this Ordo for not having sufficient justification. Keep in mind that it is almost (''almost'') unheard of for exterminatus being declared unless really anyone even in the modern day could agree the planet totally needed to die.

The Imperium is also remarkably egalitarian. For the most part, regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you can reach unimaginable heights if you have the right combination of smarts, strength, faith and luck. Space Marine chapter masters were once feral tribesmen or underhive scum, great heroes of the Imperial Guard have come from death worlds, prisons or dead end jobs in hives. Inquisitors come from almost any background imaginable, and are some of the most powerful individuals in the Imperium, and can even sit as one of the High Lords of Terra. The only thing that actually blocks social mobility is the difficulty of standing out against countless trillion other humans on a million worlds. This is implied to be partially intentional as a way to get the very best of humanity in positions of power. By and large, it works. Incompetence is actually extremely rare in the Imperium (which is why it stands out so dramatically). Unfortunately, due to the scale of everything, an incompetent in the wrong place can cause a lot of disastrous effects.

===Foreign Policy on Xenos===
For those that complain of the Imperium's genocidal stance against Aliens (especially prior to the Emperor getting stuck on the golden throne), remember that during Humanitiy's earlier years, virtually every xeno they encountered were either genocidal dickheads or sadistic assholes, so can you really blame them? Take for example, the Craftworld Eldar. On the surface, they may seem benign and offer their hand in friendship, just so you are the ones who walk into a Necron Tomb-World and lose millions where they could have done the same and possibly only lost a few hundred. Regardless, this is easier said than done and they prioritize hostile races over occasional allies. Add to that, Big.E wanted an atheistic empire starving the Chaos gods out with science (although given that the Chaos gods thrive on ''emotion itself'' just as much as worship, Big E was probably doomed from the start) all without falling into '[[Men of Iron]] II: Revenge of the Machines', and those xenos that weren't deeply religious and/or psykers tended to go the A.I. way. So in order to avoid any [[Mortarion|unnecessary questions]] and [[Magnus the Red|unhealthy curiosity]], he basically got a standing order to purge everything on sight in place. Said order was duly followed during the Great Crusade proper, but now that the expansion is over, it is applied much less zealously.

Overall, the tolerance of xenos vary on their threat to Humanity in the first place, mostly since the Imperium does have not enough resources to even deal with those that possess an actual threat (hence why Ork Charadon and Sautekh Necron empires flourish, and no new crusades are sent to bring down the Tau, despite all three being almost next door to Ultramar). If the Imperium encounters another alien civilization that's only interested in trade and does not pose an obvious threat, then the Imperium (although still strictly supervised by the Inquisition) will trade to a certain extent, via [[Diplomacy]]. Put in the fact of the Imperium's "I don't disturb you and you don't disturb me" policy to outsiders, with the fact that there are actually '''A LOT''' of Xenos living within multiple Imperium Worlds contrary of popular opinion, and the fact that the majority of the wars that Humanity has fought was on the defense then the offense (of course this depends wholeheartedly on the Imperium's mood in the first place); you would then realize that on a whole, the Imperium is actually tolerant insofar as it doesn't destroy xenos races right away if they aren't an immediate threat.

An excellent way to understand the Imperium's policies toward aliens is seen in the [[The War of The Beast]] novel series, as it portrays some xenos-sympathizers and populations subjected to them. Ultimately, with threats like Chaos, genestealers, and countless other malevolent forces at large in the galaxy, the Imperium's intolerance is born of crucial necessity, with the xenophobia growing out of it as a by-product. The Imperium cannot afford to be accepting of alien influence and ideas, because you just never know what might be sneaking in with it, and they learned that through painful experience. What might be dismissed as innocent and inconsequential can (and often does) lead to the downfall of entire worlds. The only reason the Tau can act like they can openly befriend the whole galaxy is because they are naively unaware of all of what's out there and what they're potentially inviting in and run the risk of learning the same lessons the Imperium did the hard way. That much has been pointed out by both [[Farsight]] and [[Ciaphas Cain]]. Even with all the above, the Imperium is focused on survival above all else, and if that means working with xenos they may very well do so. [[Roboute Guilliman]] can testify to that, given that said xenos played a major role in his revival.

Besides all of this, the Imperium isn't going around just blamming every species even when it can for a simple reason: the Imperium is not evil. The Imperium is not a murderer, it is not insane, and it tries to be honorable as much as is feasible. Killing a species when it is unnecessary is murder and is definitely dishonorable. The Imperium is a civilization, and is as “civilized” as it can be in the reality it finds itself in. They hate all aliens, even those whom they have accepted as protectorates, allies, neutral, or simply "we live on the same planet, don't mess with us and we won't kill you". However, the Imperium understands the difference between understandable hatred and actually acting on that hatred against beings whose extermination is not necessary. Heck, there are plenty of people whoever is reading this might hate, but you don't go around kill them, do you? Exactly.

===Governmental & Ideological Structure of the Imperium===
Additionally, while the Imperium, as referenced above, looks like a merciless and oppressive empire, it is in fact a confederation of several powerful organizations and a million planets. It occupies a strange place in between libertarian paradise (as planets have a fair bit of autonomy, more than GW would like to admit) and oppressive theocracy, (as shown all over this page) as the Imperium's main policy for what a world does under their control is "Pay the tithe, send your psykers over when the Black Ships show up, and don't make me come over there." Each 'normal' planet in the Imperium (besides specially classified planets like Forge Worlds, Fortress Worlds, Death Worlds...) has its own laws, Government, culture and social order that can [[Attilan Rough Riders|differ]] [[Tallarn Desert Raiders|from]] [[Salamanders|one]] [[Ultramarines|another]] [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|by]] [[Vostroyan Firstborn|A]] [[Space Wolves|LOT.]] Just like today's countries some have merciless dictators (North Korea) and some have democracy to an extent where citizens can choose their own head of government (UK). Furthermore, each planet itself is actually quite independent to the extent where they can have their own armed forces and even wage their own civil wars. Due to this, the Imperium only cares when some serious shit happens (like xenos invasion, [[Chaos|corruption by Oh-God-What-The-Fuck eldritch horrors from beyond space and time]], or when a Planetary Governor decided to declare himself independent of the Imperium), and given that this is the Imperium, these kinds of things vary from "happening by on a regular basis" to "Not seeing an actual war for multiple millennia".

[[File:Tumblr nnrqjzAyKm1si96eio4 400.jpg|thumb|400px|right|A sprawling Imperial city. That ship's around two miles long, by the way. In Rogue Trader, anyway. In the novels more like ten to twenty.]]
Of course, in a few cases where a Planetary Governor or planet does declare independence, it is usually listed as [[HERESY]], however most Governors don't do this kind of thing because [[Chaos|they]] [[Necrons|know]] [[Orks|what's]] [[Dark Eldar|out]] [[Tyranids|there]] and that the Imperium is the only thing that [[Imperial Guard|can]] [[Space Marines|protect]] [[Imperial Navy|them]], because the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] and the system of the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] provides a cheap system of FTL and communication through the horrors of the [[Warp]], and because the Merchant Fleet enables intergalatic commerce. There is also the reason that they have so much autonomy already that there isn't really a reason to leave the Imperium other than sheer greed. It isn't like tithes are high anyway, so just greed and egomania. If a Planet declares independence, he loses the right to FTL and trade with the Imperium, and that's bad for Hive Worlds that need Agri-Worlds in order to survive, meaning the Imperium doesn't even ''need'' to send in their military since ''they'' know that the young usurper would most likely peacefully surrender in that prospect. The reason why the loyalty of some planets differ in question varied over the Imperium's history. During the Great Crusade, most worlds were extremely loyal to both the Imperium and the Emperor because it rescued them from all sorts of indescribable horrors that had plagued them for the thousands of years of the Long Night (Age of Strife). After the Great Crusade, the Imperium remained (mostly) cohesive as a whole due to both a remaining sense of loyalty to their savior and for mutual survival in the face of a severely fucked up galaxy. After a few thousand years of that, the Imperial Cult had gained sufficient strength that the reasons for remaining loyal to the Imperium and the Emperor expanded from just mutual survival to a shared religion where loyalty between each planet must be routinely checked to prevent separatism or [[Horus Heresy|another civil war that essentially kicked the Imperium in the galactic nuts.]] [[Derp|However, even then,]] [[Age of Apostasy|some religious asshat decides to do it all over again]] [[lulz|for the lulz,]] the aftermath of which persuaded some Planetary Rulers to question the legitimacy and thus loyalty to the Imperium. This is why you see that although most planets would never dare to even break away from the Imperium, a certain few that do break away is either due to the above questioning, your typical [[Just as Planned|Chaos hijinks]], xenos manipulation (as is frequently the case when the Tau or Genestealer Cults are involved), or just a Planetary Governor who's either arrogant enough to think he can get away with it or desperate enough to believe his world has nothing to lose from rebellion.

Therefore, the loyalty of most to the Imperium is not out of an ideological obsession to stamp out HERESY, but of pragmatism and necessity in order to survive in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium as Protectorates. This real-life perspective again, is then supported in WH40K where the Imperium, being a decentralized but powerful semi-autonomous group of Corporate entities, have different ways of pledging allegiance to the Emperor himself rather than the State: the Inquisition stamps out anyone caught separating from or perverting the Emperor's rule of conduct as Heresy, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] worships the Emperor as an aspect of another pagan Machine-god called the Omnissiah and benefits from an ancient pact of alliance dating to the Great Crusade, and the [[Adeptus Astartes]] are altered transhumans who merely view the Emperor as an exemplar of humanity, but were created by the Emperor himself and so can claim a closer connection to him than the other above-mentioned organizations via their genetic descent from the Primarchs. They all might just as well declare each other's ideologies as HERESY but each of them are personal Protectorate vassals to the Emperor himself, and both know that they need to work together lest Humanity as a whole goes extinct. Thus, as said multiple times before, the Imperium is not a centralized superstate, and more akin to a Coalition of Confederated Mini-Empires that's disguised as a Galactic Superpower (though the Imperium has its independent military and technological might with which to enforce its laws); or in real-life examples, the Imperium is more of a mixture between the "Protectorate" system like the Roman Empire, which allowed local governments to exist as Protectorates as long as they pay taxes and say that the Emperor is all "Good and Dandy", and today's UN which allows member nations to join while still keeping their national/cultural dignity, along with the Veto Powers between the founding members of China, US, Russia, France and Britain so they can keep each others powers in balance (Similar to the equal powers between the High-Lords of Terra).

Additionally, while chastity and prudence are technically heralded as virtues by [[Sisters of Battle|some]] organizations and planets within the Imperium, the Imperium as a whole is decidedly pro-sex. The reason is more utilitarian than [[Slaanesh|hedonistic]]; more babies means more soldiers. Even in the smallest sectors, there are always more planets to colonize (even if it's on the ruins of some other civilization) so space is seldom a concern. Imperial citizens are encouraged, by most local customs, to be fruitful so that the tithes may be paid. If you'd ask "why not just clone more soldiers?", the reason the Imperium doesn't do that (atleast excluding their black projects like the [[Afriel Strain]] soldiers) is because it's considered a perversion of the holy human form, hence it's labeled as heresy. Plus, attempting to clone regiments of soldiers on a rapid basis is likely to come with a variety of genetic problems that would hinder the Imperium rather than help it. Then there's the problem that the technology to clone a full human with a functioning mind (as opposed to a brain-dead clone fit for making into a servitor) is extremely difficult, to say nothing of how the clones' souls seem to be inherently abnormal for reasons nobody can explain.

And if anyone still complains that the Imperium is still 'dark and miserable,' just shove Stephen Baxter's [[Xeelee Sequence]] down their throats, portraying a human empire that is so downright evil and malicious that you will actually applaud their [[rape|cosmic butt-whipping]] by the nigh god-like Xeelee. Seriously, the Interim Coalition of Governance is what happens when the [[Marines Malevolent]] becomes a pan-galactic empire that has no qualms in sending over [[Grimdark|200 trillion child soldiers to die in a rather hopeless and pointless war;]] they make the policies of the Imperium [[Noblebright|look like the]] [[Star Trek|United Federation of Planets]] [[BrightHammer40k|in comparison.]]

===IoM in contrast to True Totalitarian Regimes===
Whilst it ''is'' true that the IoM combines many elements from all of the dictatorships on Earth, the key word you are looking for is elements. All of the dystopian tropes in the IoM are nitpicks from great dystopian classics. They aren't a true mixture of various authoritarian tropes, but are mere themes to set up the atmosphere of the Imperium. The presence of authoritarianism is there all right. However, it is not outright enforced; the Imperium doesn't care how your planet is run as long as the tithes come in on time and there's no outright heresy to be found. Imperial law focuses on best practices, security against subtle enemy attack methods, and anti-Chaos related manners of thinking (like a distinct lack of questioning the unknown because it could enter you and play havoc with your world). Basically, as long as you have laws that don't leave you wide open for the horrors in space, the Imperium is fine with you. And as mentioned before, the dystopian elements varies between planets to planets with the fact that you could actually ''leave'' the planet if given money and time. The reason why places like Oceania from [[1984]], North Korea, and the aforementioned Interim Coalition of Governance are terrifying is because they are actually true totalitarian governments with extremely nihilistic attitudes. These are totalitarian regimes done horrifyingly right. These are governments which pride themselves on their malevolence and power; in which an ordinary person has little to no chance of leaving the hell hole they are born into. Their governmental and ideological structure is done in such a way that the mere act of pragmatism will be condemned for [[Heresy|HERESY]]. Places like these are concentrated and true dystopias in which control is so absolute that you live in a personal prison for all eternity. These governments make the raging incompetence of the Imperium look like Fantasia. Furthermore, the Imperium has one thing these governments do not have: a sense of humanity and heroism. Throughout all the GW works on the Imperium, we have characters who show remarkable amounts of [[Sanguinius|selfless]] [[Ollanius Pius|heroism,]] [[Ciaphas Cain|courage,]] [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt|and]] [[Saint Celestine|intense]] [[Vulkan|humanity]]. The protagonists (and general "good guys") in these stories consistently try to move heaven and earth to [[Logan Grimnar|protect the weak]] against all odds. We almost never see that kind of optimistic effort in the aforementioned dystopian works. This is why [[1984]] and the [[Xeelee Sequence]] are so horrifying: there is no hope, no epic struggle, no grandeur... just a collapsing social reality where the very concept of humanity is treated like a nonexistent joke.

Essentially, what we are trying to say here is that the worst thing the Imperium can do is not out of malice, but out of desperation, incompetence and necessity. For example:

''"We are forced to commit exterminatus on a billion souls because we have no choice and the [[Chaos|alternative]] [[Xeno|outcome]] would be much worse. I pray that these innocent souls would meet peace with the Emperor.''

In contrast this with Oceania which go along the lines of:

''"We torture you not because of some politically motivated means or a necessary evil. We do so because we want to exercise our power. We do so because we can."''

Or the Interim Coalition of Governance:

''"We are ready to send over a untold number of kids to die against the Xeelee. Why you ask? Because it is more economically viable to protect our sweet, sweet moolah and we need something to cover up our deep insecurities and spite."''

The bottom line: the IoM embodies not perpetual evil and suffering for its own sake, but desperate measures taken in desperate times, exacerbated further by inefficiency and human error. It may be shit by our standards, but considering all the other alternatives that would actually stand a chance in the grim darkness of the far future, it's pretty clear the Imperium is the ''least horrible'' alternative for humanity.

In a way, this makes it worse than the full dystopias as those guys have no one but themselves to blame. The Imperium simply cannot afford anything better.

===Character development at meta level===

From a meta point of view the evolution of the Imperium reflects that of the franchise and the company's interest and capabilities, back in the 80s during the Rogue Trader GW writers didn't bother too much about the possible ramifications of their character profiles, they were after all doing things for kids which wanted something cool and funny; morality, rationale and introspection didn't really have that much of a priority, at best there was a lot of parody with a pinch of political commentary inherent in british pop culture.

As editions moved the Imperium went from a glam-coloured 80s feudal cyberpunk place for adventures, fun and profit to the stage were the "Grimdark" entered in full effect, think of it a bit like a child turning into a teenager who wants to sound cool a deep, edginess was the order of the day for the Third Edition, this is from where a lot of the dystopian stuff we all know and love came from, Battlefleet Gothic with their slave-powered ships is a great example, the original portrayal of the necrons as eldritch horrors directed by the C'tan are born from this edition too, it was the lowest point of characterization for the Imperium in terms of dark induced apathy.

Gradually, thanks in great part to the efforts of Black Library writers and the simple fact many fans were already adults who wanted something more "elaborate" the Imperium started to gain their humane elements, the Gaunt Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain put in evidence that no, not everyone in the Imperial Guard were zealots and jerkasses, Uriel Ventris and other SM portrayals allowed the Adeptus Astartes to win back their heroic aspect and while Matt Ward broke a lot of the old fluff he allowed for factions such as the Necrons to become something more than a horde of metallic zombies.

The case of commissar Cain is special, some people didn't like to consider him canon as he broke with the overall idea of grimdarkness, he starts as an anomaly, a secretly epicurean, self-loathing character capable of decent and even heroic acts as well as abject fear who visits worlds which suddenly are not hells on earth, through his eyes we see both military and civilians who are, despite the obvious and obligatory cultural dissonances, humans with their loves, hatreds, good intentions and limitations, enjoying life whenever they can and showing commodities and services which shouldn't exist in the grim darkness of the far future, this sudden injection of humanity shakes a great deal of the fanbase perception of the Imperium, they suddenly discover this galactic warring monster is quite more than a stage for endless dystopian war, suddenly imperials have a great deal more to fight for than debased ideology, they are fighting for survival, and that survival can allow for something more than slave-work at factories alternated with unending sermons, behind the facade of the fanatic and the mad you find reality ensues, ruthlessness with your own is a ticket for friendly fire incidents, even the staunchest sororitas has a pension to think of and the administratum is not totally filled of incompetent people.

Gaunt's Ghost work in tandem with Ciaphas Cain to add more humanity to the Imperium, the Tanith First and Only are people, they remember their world of forest and stone cities destroyed, they clearly see their memory as something worth fighting for, and while they are loyal to the Imperium they will notice when there is something unfair and, if possible, deal with it, even at terminal strength, while Colonel-Commissar may be in the minority of competent commanders he and other characters in HQ put in evidence you can't run a military force purely with lash and bolt-pistol, at least not totally, like many real-life regimes you still need a sandwich as well as a shotgun to deal with people, remove the sandwich, use the shotgun too much and you will eventually find the dog bitting back.

The Horus Heresy series helped too, as the origins of the Imperium were vastly expanded and explained, allowing for a better understanding of the choices taken by both loyalists and traitors, the Emperor in particular lost their portrayal of a perfect being and finally was revealed to be a more human character, with great inentions but ultimately flawed and capable of failure. This also allowed for a better understanding of how the Imperium became so religious, repressive and authoritian despite, or perhaps, because Big E original plans to fight the Chaos Gods by starving them, the primarchs background was further explored and the tragedy behind their fall became now a known narrative, all these aspects adding a "depth of field".

With the return of Guilliman in the last editions we finally come to a point where the Imperium as an entity recovers, or more exactly gains, its capability for self-criticism, and with it a gut-punching self-awareness, we see through Guilliman's eyes the vast gears of traditionalist government, the monumental historic inertia pushing things to the brink, the continuous and terrible technological, economic and social degradation mankind has been subjected for centuries fueled by terrible wars of extinction.

From such capability to see these flaws is that the desire to break with this unending cycle of darkness is born, for the first time we see the chance of reform not born from Tzeentchian influence or Xenos infiltration, stable (so far) technological advancement finally happens, the character of Belisarius Cawl comes to mind, he is certainly a maverick, his relation with Guilliman and his subordinates is interesting, he knows his own value and dares others on the Imperium's side in a way which reminds a bit of the oldest editions where Rogue Traders went to strange and extravagant adventures, but we also see his backstory, what eventually shaped in his current self, his manias and hopes, no longer just "the tech support guy who knows how to fix the server", but a person, someone who can go talk face to face with Guilliman.

And hence in the Imperium of this modern age ancient traditional powers find themselves checked, not to say this brave new messiah in blue is not without his limits and contradictions, more than once Guilliman has to recognize his own mistakes, and he is still blind to others, and some things he attempts don't end well, and while the situation has become more critical than ever since, perhaps, the Horus Heresy, the Imperium and characters such as his "Uncrowned King" as narrative entities finally recover their potential for the humane. The Imperium is still a place of unending war and misery, en epic saga with many elements of cosmic horror history, but with a glimpse of a path to, in words of Black Library "Salvation".

===In Summation===
To put it simply, the Imperium is more or less a Feudal society rather than an "Empire" in the modern sense like is seen in Star Wars or a thousand other Science Fiction/Space Fantasy stories. You have a central authority in the Adeptus Terra and a unifying religion in the Imperial Creed, but the assorted fiefdoms of the Imperium generally are left to rule themselves without that much oversight from the central authority as long as the taxes come in on time and no open rebellion is occurring. Given that the Imperium is 40k's counterpart to the Empire in Warhammer Fantasy which is more or less the medieval/renaissance era Holy Roman Empire but bigger and more technologically advanced, this isn't all that surprising. And much like those feudal era societies you have some parts which are much better off than others, in agriculturally rich land with ample access to trade and developed cities feudal societies could rival anything that the earlier societies of antiquity could make in terms of sophistication. But poor provinces mostly made out of useless swampland and rocks are of course going to be poor hicktowns (somehow their ancestors thought settling in said swamp and rocks was a brilliant idea). Furthering the parallels to feudal Europe is that the Imperium is built atop of the corpse of an older and more urbane society; Rome for Medieval Europe and Dark Age humanity for the Imperium, and emerged out of a prolonged dark age following the collapse of that old empire. And the most important thing to note is that Feudal governments did not exercise absolute control, for a feudal peasant your local Baron had far more influence over your life than the King or Emperor would, and how harsh or kind your life was depended largely on the nature of your local overlord. Similarly, some places would have elected heads of local government like mayors in many cities, some would be ruled directly by the church, and even the laws and customs could vary dramatically between the domains of the various nobles. In essence, the Imperium is a space medieval society that due to the original generation of games workshop writers being history nerds with degrees and shit, actually resembles a medieval society much better than stories supposedly set in faux-medieval times. The Imperium has much more in common with the Empire of Charlemagne (during the Great Crusade) or the Holy Roman Empire than it does with any of the expansionist and/or authoritarian regimes that arose from the 1700s and onwards.

You could also hand the whiners the Ciaphas Cain books, which repeatedly showcases Imperial worlds that are actually fairly decent places to live, with planetary governments that actually give a shit about their people, and are perfectly capable of surviving an invasion or two (or several, in the case of ork threats) and still returning to a state of normalcy after the organizations whose purpose is to deal with these threats does their jobs (who, by the way, eight times out of ten are usually able to do so without leaving the planet in question a smoking ruin).

Space feudalism is even implied in the way the people in the lore speak of the Imperium. For instance, a politician might tell his fellow "watch what you say or the Imperium will come" or something. The Imperium is an outsider to most of the worlds it is made of, not an immediate presence. This is, like real life, out of necessity. Real life feudalism was due to social breakdown following Rome's collapse, and technology limited just how much one group could control. The Imperium is much the same, this time due to sheer scale involved and the collapse of order following the Iron War and the Age of Strife.

===Tl;dr===
[[Tl;dr]] the Imperium of Man has [[Lulz|more in common with the]] [[Star Trek|United Federation of Planets]] [[Derp|in terms of government structure than it does with the]] [[Star Wars|Galactic Empire.]] They're allowed to rule with relative independence, as long as they pay their tithes and obey the [[Imperial Cult]]. This does, of course, lead to many worlds being shitholes ruled by greedy homicidal tyrants, but there are plenty of examples of peaceful and even prosperous worlds. It really depends on galactic location and just chance. As long as you're not a xenos race or attempt to [[Badab War|cut ties]] [[Macharian Crusade|with the Imperium]], you have a chance of living a comfortable life. And with millions of worlds with ''trillions'' of people inhabiting them, those chances might actually be decent. The vast majority of worlds are Civilized Worlds (also known as "Imperial Worlds", but that is a stupid and confusing name so fuck that) and the vast majority of Civilized Worlds are quite pleasant places to be and are still pretty much what the Great Crusade created barring the addition of the Imperial Creed over the Imperial Truth. Most of the grimdark happens on a handful of worlds in the Imperium and even then only specific spots (like the Underhive of a particularly harsh Hive World). For all but a minuscule number of humans, life in the Imperium really is pretty great. You have a guaranteed job (that is not going to hurt you, unlike working on a Forge World), a higher standard of living than a modern first world country (civilian technology is quite advanced still since nearly every world produces it so it can't really be lost, unlike advanced military tech), easy access to extremely cheap transportation, etc. So, as long as you can dodge the draft into the Guard, you'll be totally good (until the Commissar or local priest comes looking for you for dodging). Although, there aren't drafts for the Guard (depending on world, but it's rare). Conscription is performed on rare occassions to provide manpower to nearby warzones temporarily and once that battle is over they are returned home. This might seem oddly generous, but remember: '''the Imperium genuinely cares about its citizens.''' This humanity at its core is why most fans view it as "the good guy" of Warhammer 40,000.

==Anthems of the Imperium of Man==
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duYoKxb0IeI - The anthem of the Imperium of the 41st Millennium.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM_c_avPlx4 - Battle anthem of the Adeptus Astartes

==See Also==
* [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)]], for their slightly less grimdark and '''much''' smaller scale alleged Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Skaven|The Underempire]] for their ''actual'' Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Azyr]] for their [[noblebright]] [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]] counterpart.

==Summary==
[[grimdark|In the grim dark future of the 41st Millennium, there is only bleak, grim, black, hopeless, dismal, barren, gloomy, gray, joyless, dour, dreary, dark, cheerless, glum, oppressive, somber, grim darkness. And the sugar beet/cane is extinct.]]
[[File:DAoT.jpg|580px|center|thumb|What the Imperium would likely look like if the Mechanicus ever decided to get their head out of their collective ass. Except there would be skulls and gothic architecture everywhere (which is automatically superior in every way to stupid shiny smooth shit).]]
[[File:1342123121.jpg|580px|center|thumb|Ah, much better...]]

==External Link==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MeVxKZBOfM The history of the Imperium in about a minute and a half.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUrSQNSN6_c The Story of the Imperium in a musical piece] - [[Great Crusade|Slow start that]] [[Horus Heresy|soon erupts into allout badassery]] [[Time of Ending|and is quenched in a desperate last stand against the mighiest threats,]] [[Grimdark|before it flickers and dies...]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHSvSZ-UEFc An (arguably) more optimistic but no less brutal take on the eternal Imperium and its history. Times of majesty, times of destruction, times of glory, times of despair, they all alternate and repeat with the one endless constant of war.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csu6vbWA-YQ A new song to herald the trying time of the Imperium] - [[Black Crusade|A slow, malevolent start]] [[Great Rift|to capture the spread of evil]] [[Cadia|over the closest thing to good in the universe]] [[Belisarius Cawl|followed by]] [[Saint Celestine|faint whispers of]] [[Roboute Guilliman| hope]] [[Indomitus Crusade|that erupts in an enormous cresendo,]] [[grimdark|before fading with a quiet whine.]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1CQ7Vwz8Eo the Imperium of man's theme song, less serious, more accurate perhaps.]

{{Imperium}}
{{Template:40k-Governments}}
[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

The Imperium of Man

2020-06-13T04:14:20Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: Undo revision 664255 by 2601:197:B7F:E0C0:ECC6:61A0:1FBE:AF39 (talk)

{{Infobox 40k Nations
|name=Imperium of Man
|image=[[Image:Imperium_Flag.jpg ‎|300px|center]]
|Capital=[[Holy Terra]]
|Official Languages= High Gothic (aka Latin), Low Gothic (aka English/French/German/Italian/Russian/Chinese/Literally Every Language) and its countless dialects, Binary and billions of minor and local languages
|Power=Galactic Superpower
|Size=Galactic but stretched thin More than 1 million to 10 million planets
|Head of State=[[Emperor of Mankind]]
|Head of Government=[[Roboute Guilliman|Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman]], [[High Lords of Terra]], [[Dante|Lord Regent of Imperium Nihilus Dante]]
|Governmental Structure=Unitary Atheistic Authoritarian Absolute Monarchy (''Great Crusade'') Feudal Totalitarian Theocratic Dictatorship (''Age of Apostasy'') Feudal Theocratic Authoritarian Confederated Oligarchy (''41st Millennium'') Unitary Authoritarian Semi-Theocratic Confederation (''42nd Millennium'')
|State Religion/Ideology=[[Imperial Truth|State Atheism]] (''Great Crusade'') [[Imperial Cult]] (''32nd Millennium onward'')
|Demographic=[[Humans]], [[Abhuman|Abhumans]], minor [[Xenos]] races, assorted Transhumans
|Military Force=[[Imperial Guard]], [[Space Marines]], [[Militarum Tempestus]], [[Sisters of Battle]], [[Inquisition]], [[Planetary Defense Force]]
}}
{{Topquote|What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?|Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2}}
{{Topquote|Great empires are not maintained by timidity.|Tacitus}}
{{Topquote|This bloated, rotten carcass of an empire is driven not by reason and hope, but by fear, hate and ignorance.|[[Roboute Guilliman]], who is [[Butthurt|not pleased]] by the [[Grimdark|actual state]] of the Imperium}}
[[File:Imperial Aquila.jpg|thumb|300px|left|The Aquila, the symbol of the Imperium and personal heraldry of the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]]. Failing to show proper reverence to the Aquila is [[heresy]] punishable by *BLAM*ing. The two heads represent looking towards the future while being [[Imperial Truth|blind towards the mistakes of the past]], while the two heads and differing feet represent the Terra-Mars alliance.]]
The '''Imperium of Man''' (Lat.: '''IMPERIVM HVMANVM''' or '''IMPERIVM HOMINIS''') is a gigantic, galaxy-spanning Civilization (to give you an idea of how truly massive this empire is, the most conservative estimates place its population at four quadrillion. Estimates that take into account the huge number of what are essentially [[Hive|cramped apartment-building planets]]? Now we're talking upwards of FORTY quadrillion. Oh, and this is not counting planets they have lost track of due to various heresies and other catastrophies, not to mention the general incompetence of those [[Administratum|blasted pencil-push]]{{BLAM}}) that contains the vast majority of humanity in the tabletop game ''[[Warhammer 40K]]''. It is often stereotyped in popular media as a xenophobic, amoral, gargantuan, militaristic, merciless, stratified, theocratic, [[Paranoia|paranoid, dystopian, totalitarian]], semi-police state and hellishly oligarchical bureaucracy. Why this is called 'stereotypical' to begin with is questionable though since it's absolutely fucking true{{BLAM}} Think of a hideous amalgamation of the [[Roman Empire]] including Byzantine Era with its sheer amount of scheming and administrative stupidity, pre-Reformation Catholic Church, [[Nazi|Nazi Germany]], Imperial Japan, Soviet Russia and George Orwell's ''[[1984]]'' spread out across the stars, under constant attack by aliens and subject to countless [[Chaos|disasters]] everyday. Add in the fanatical worship of a [[Emperor|dead dictator]] and it's basically North Korea IN SPEHSS (but somehow fucking works).

However, this is what [[GW]] ''wants you to think''; in all retrospective outside of the popular perspective, the Imperium of Man can actually be a pretty nice place to live depending on where you actually live... although GW description does apply to Death Worlds, some Hive Worlds and the Imperium as a whole. Sure, there are shit-holes like Catachan, but because of its size and extreme variety, you also have a higher chance of being born in places that shits all over any modern developed country and may even be led by people better than Gandhi. While it's plausible that atrocities happen all the time in the Imperium, given its size, that doesn't mean that everyone is always doomed. Unfortunately Games Workshop decided to ignore this aspect since it is not [[Derp|metal and grimderp]] enough...and thus does not help with [[Profit|sales]].

Almost everything 40K related and homebrewed on this website is a sterling example of /tg/ taking creative liberties with what the Imperium stands for. These include, but are not limited to, the [[Angry Marines]], [[Commissar Raege]], [[Commissar Fuklaw]], [[Pretty Marines]], [[Reasonable Marines]]... Truly, anonymous delivers!

==Synopsis==
[[File:Iron Men 40k.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The [[Iron Men]] are credited with fucking humanity right over, just like the [[Old Ones]] did with the rest of the galaxy's inhabitants.]]
The Imperium consists of over a million habitable worlds and is of such size that the loss of a few dozen planets (along with billions of citizens) is not even worth the paperwork it would take to declare said worlds Perdatus. Under constant threat and attack by a myriad of powerful alien races and traitorous forces, the Imperium is engulfed in a constant galaxy-spanning war. The everyday rule of the Imperium is left to the [[High Lords of Terra]], who basically don't give a fuck about anybody and have no clue what the hell they're doing half of the time.

The figurehead and subject of compulsory religious veneration, the immortal [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] forged the Imperium out of the [[Age of Strife]]. Being physically fucked for the past 10,000 years, he sits immobile and connected to the Golden Throne far from the sight of his subjects, witnessed his formerly [[Star Trek|glorious utopia of science and reason]] drop 99.9% of its IQ points against his will, and requires the sacrifice of many psykers a day to keep him alive, though this hasn't prevented his body from decomposing (he still has some fleshy bits left) and now looks like a mummy without the wrappings. [[Heresy]] is the greatest crime one can commit in the Imperium, the punishment for which is a painful death or torture followed by a painful death. Technology is barely understood and basically mythological, and even the Techpriests are afraid of their machines (this aspect of the Techpriests has been lessened over the years, now they're more like spiritualistic and very dogmatic scientists rather than technowizards.)

[[Image:Forbidden_Love.jpg|thumb|right|This would never happen. Ever. At least, not where anyone could see it.]]
The Imperium is also one of the biggest entities in the 40k universe, like a fatguy that hogs half the couch for himself and forces the others to sit on the arm rests. Some fa/tg/uys theorize that if the Imperium falls it may take the rest of the galaxy with it, as it holds so much territory that it staves off the Tyranids and the Orks before they can nom/loot everyone else's shit. (e.g. Dawn of War II, Spess Mahreens nuke the Tyranid fleet before they can nom an Eldar Craftworld.)

It's now a complete shithole and is not even remotely close to the Emperor's vision for humanity. Reasons for this include the Imperium's leaders being heartless fuckwads and the necessity of such an uncaring organization for the survival of humanity in a galaxy that wants to kill them in a million painful ways.

That's fucking grimdark, but at least there's Slaanesh to lighten everything u-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an approved author. +}}

Well, honestly, Nurgle is at least a pretty nice gu-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Well, at least we have Tzee-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Kho-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. ++ And for fucks sake please stop mentioning the cha--}}
{{BLAM}}

===Roboute Guilliman in M42===
With the events of Gathering Storm and the Dark Imperium, the awakening of [[Roboute Guilliman|Big Blue Wonder]] ushered sweeping changes within the governmental ruling of the Imperium. Roboute's self coronation as Lord Commander (His old job) and political reforms that meant the firing of some High Lords of Terra meant that the IoM is becoming more centralized like it was during the Great Crusade.

Of course, centralization means a more authoritarian Imperium. Nevertheless, Guilliman is the best living person to be given the responsibility in fixing the bureaucratic nightmare of the Imperium, so there is little reason to panic. One of the biggest reasons the vast majority of the Imperial Guard spends entire careers fighting rebelling worlds instead of humanity’s enemies is because each planet is highly autonomous and their governments simply blame the Imperium for the hardships caused by the greed of those worlds’ nobles and governors. So, an Imperium with greater authority and control over its worlds would increase efficiency and effectiveness of planetary governments in the Imperium’s usual inefficient methods; then the eighty percent of Imperial Guard forces fighting rebels can go banhammer aliens and daemons instead. Some (including the High Lords themselves, to the surprise of nobody) consider Roboute's rule as a dictatorship (not like they can honestly stop him since he has a blood claim to the throne and effectively controls all Space Marines and Custodes), but the reality is that whilst the Imperium is centralizing in a manner akin to how it was in the Great Crusade, certain political entities such as the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition still holds significant clout and influence over the Imperium. With Guilliman currently updating his new Codex Imperialis for good governance and ruling, it is safe to say that the quality of life for the Imperium would be slowly improving. Of course, the vastness and sheer diversity of the IoM combined with the unwillingness of the above-mentioned political entities to accept reform means that the actual results are ''far'' more complicated than this. Nonetheless, the very fact that Guilliman's rule is actively trying to improve the Imperium with mixed results shows that the Imperium unlike traditional oppressive regimes, still have a chance for the better. It would still be the Imperium we know and love, but it would be far more efficient and competent, since efficiency and competency was the biggest crutch on why the Imperium is in such a dire situation. Resistance to Guilliman’s reforms would most likely be met by a visit from loyal Inquisitors and the Inquisitor’s who plot against his reforms would probably be vanished by Raven Guard sent by Guilliman. Anyone in the way of his plans would simply...disappear or end up mysteriously dead. Primarchs are not known for taking shit. Or for accepting “no” as an answer to their orders.

Furthermore, it seems that the jingoistic foreign policy of the Imperium towards xenos for 10,000 years has relaxed slightly in favor of pragmatism on Robby's part, most exemplified by the current alliance of convenience between the Imperium and the Ynnari (It's hard to say exactly how sincere the relationship ''is''; Guilliman himself noted that the Ynnari could be respected but not necessarily trusted, and the [[Visarch]] has voiced criticism of [[Yvraine]] acting as a "lapdog of the Imperium", so while they're not fighting each other they can hardly be called the best of friends). However, it has been suggested that Big Bobby G and Yvraine are totally hot for each other and want to have crazy butt-s...OH NOT AGAIN! {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|HERESY!}} It could also be due to [[Great Rift|the giant Warp scar]] spawned from Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade and how Chaos is now a bigger threat to the Imperium than ever. G-man also appointed [[Dante]] as warden to administer the other half of the Imperium across the Great Rift.

==Forces Of The Imperium==
* [[Adeptus Custodes]] - The Emperor's personal bodyguards who make ''Space Marines'' look like ordinary men. Their armour has so much bling it makes even the most pimptastic Space Marine's Artificer Armour look cheap. Their modification and training, not to mention the loss of the Emperor, robbed most of them of empathy and the ability to form connections with other people (even each other), as the only being they trusted absolutely is now stuck between life and death. Others are quite reasonable guys, and after 10,000 years on the bench, and a minor deamon invasion of Holy Terra, they're back in the game in a big way. Anyway, they go to insane lengths and cross any moral line to ensure His safety, and are now going forth on Crusade to help guard humanity as a whole from unending terror. Grimdark.
* [[Space Marines]] - The enhanced, power armored supersoldiers who form the elite warriors of the Imperium. All they do is train, sleep, pray, fight, and die; and they love every second of it (being the loyal warrior monks they are). There are only a million of them, but since the Imperium only has about a million planets it kind of evens out. They are no longer human, and remember nothing but an endless service of bloodshed culminating in their own violent deaths. Grimdark.
[[Image:Guardsmen_fighting.jpg|thumb|right|Die horribly or Join the Guard and THEN die horribly. At least that way you'll get a sweet-looking [[Lasgun|flashlight]].]]
* [[Imperial Guard]] - The countless quadrillions of regular humans who form the vast majority of the Imperium's armed forces. Very similar to a conventional modern military, they are a bunch of manly farmers and factory workers fighting off [[Necrons|unstoppable robots with guns that completely rip their skin off]], [[Tyranids|huge monstrous aliens who want to OM NOM NOM everything]], [[Chaos Space Marines|batshit insane super humans who want to kill everyone in painful ways and sacrifice their victims' souls while doing it]], [[Orks|barbaric aliens who are made for FIGHTAN AND WINNIN']], [[Eldar|mysterious spehss pansies who don't give a shit about anyone else]], [[Dark Eldar|spehss elves who wants to torture and rape them with the worst forms of BDSM]], [[Tau|Orwellian weeaboo space communists]], or [[Rak'gol|obscure but brutal spider Cthulhu reptiles that like to rip your intestines out before stealing all your stuff]], with little more than a [[Lasgun|flashlight]], [[Tallarn Desert Raiders|reinforced cardboard]], [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|standard-issue chest-hair]] and [[Cadia|BALLS O' STEEL]]. Or that's what you might be led to believe: a big part of the Imperium's wars are fought against fellow humans (or [[Lost and the Damned|things that once were human]]) but decided they had enough of being crapped upon by greedy superiors and uncaring leaders. Selfishly ignoring the fact the Imperium has no problem with them overthrowing said greedy superiors and uncaring leaders so long as Imperial law, taxes, and tithes are obeyed. But no, that would mean admitting their own cowardice was their own fault, so they rebel against "the man" instead and "the man" curbstomps them in the face for it. Most Imperial Guardsmen are conscripted every now and then from the best Planetary Defence Force troopers on a given world. Some planets supplement this supply with prisoners, while others give over their entire population to the Imperium as their tithe, the birth rate equaling the recruitment rate. Most die or muster out and they will never again see home, unless they're fighting on it. [[Grimdark]].
[[Image:Magos_Explorator_Delphan_Gruss.jpg|thumb|right|Combat Dentists, the Mechanicum's leading specialists on tooth heresy.]]
* [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] - An organization of Tech-priests. They have a monopoly over all Imperial technology from giant mecha to cybernetics, and almost everyone else in the Imperium is afraid of their machines. As a result, the Admech has to loan their techpriests to other organizations in the form of Enginseers, though for Space Marines it's more a work study program as they'll send one of their own troops to become a Techmarine. Independent scientists also exist, but only as long as they don't get killed for [[heresy]] or stay below the Mechanicus radar. Once these independents get powerful or competent enough to make a difference, they get wiped out or absorbed into Cult Mechanicus. Includes [[Adeptus Titanicus]]‎, [[Legio Cybernetica]] (Insidious Death Robotics, Inc), Centurio [[Ordinatus]] (look at name, figure it out), [[Skitarii]] (basically Imperial Guard of the Mechanicus), Auxilia [[Myrmidon]] (tech-priest war savants, stuff of nightmares), and the Ordo Reductor (siege specialists, infamous for ripping off the Space Marines by making the [[Thallax]]). Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Navy]] - Job is pretty self-explanatory, they split with the Guard after the Horus Heresy. They are a very large organization, as you would expect from a navy tasked with protecting a million worlds. Their ships range in size from meters-long fighters to kilometers-long battleships which are quite capable of [[Exterminatus|blowing up planets]], mostly Imperial ones, which they do at the command of the Inquisition on a regular basis in the fight against '''HERESY'''. Because Humanity was ass-raped by AI 15,000 years ago, the Imperial Navy uses huge human crews, most of which are "recruited" (i.e. Shanghaied) to die in space as one of billions of expendable men. Grimderp, considering not even some hydraulic lifters are employed when reloading even though the rest of the ship is high tech.
* [[Adeptus Arbites]] - These guys police every world in the Imperium. They're like [[Judge Dredd]] but more Grimdark. Arbites are usually one of the first institutions to be set up on a world and are equipped to fight a small war, with equipment ranging from power mauls and suppression shields to lasguns and even the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]]. On the ground the Arbites have four units: Patrol Groups, whose job it is to make sure no wrongdoing occurs in the settlement; Shock Troops who are sent in when there are riots, street wars and other generalized disturbances (they usually shoot on sight if you are anywhere near the problem center); Execution Teams who pursue specific guilty individuals or groups; and Snatch Squads who are charged with capturing a specific individual or group for questioning. The criminals caught by the Arbites usually wind up dead [[Blam|one way]] [[Penal legion|or another]]. The Inquisition often uses the Arbites to apprehend certain individuals if they do not wish to be directly involved. Grimdark.
* [[Inquisition]] - The KGB of the Imperium. Their job is to keep said Imperium secure and loyal. With jurisdiction over nearly anyone and anything, the Inquisitors and their agents have very few impediments on their endless quest to contain heresy. The Inquisition consists of three main branches: the Ordo Hereticus, who's duty is to eliminate or contain threats such as '''HERESY''', mutants, and traitors; the Ordo Xenos, who specialize in destruction of alien threats, and the Ordo Malleus who are called on to stop Daemonic incursions. If they do their job poorly, entire worlds get destroyed based on the barest rumors. Alternatively, if they do their jobs well, those worlds still get destroyed because there are no other alternatives to stop the many genocidal threats the Imperium faces. Also, nobody expects them. Grimdark.
[[Image:Pimpin_Imperium.png|thumb|right|The Inquisition: not as easy as it looks.]]
* [[Sisters of Battle]] - The [[Ecclesiarchy|Ecclesiarchy's]] army, the nuns-with-guns or bolter bitches. Originally, they were an isolated all-female cult on a backwater world, and subsequently became the personal army of [[Goge Vandire]] during his fab [[Age of Apostasy|Age of Apostasy]]. After that blew over, they came into their current role through some top-notch [[rules lawyers|rules lawyering]]- after the Age of Apostasy, the Ecclesiarchy was only barred from having ''men'' under arms, so the Sisters weren't disbanded. They are trained from early age (because they are picked up as orphans) and in the end they become one of the best fighting troops of the Imperium, second only to the Astartes themselves. Their faith is so great that even Grey Knights are jealous of it. [[/tg/]] likes to see Sisters in different heretical fantasies, often involving [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh]], [[Shlicktau|female Tau]] and [[The wet dream of selena agna|Eldar Farseers]]. But what the poor bastards don't know is that the Sisters are all into [[FAIL|celibacy]] (though some lore says otherwise), love only the Emperor (sometimes it's a damn shame), and are so zealous and fanatical that they would turn off just about any human man anyway. Armed with their trusty Bolters, Meltaguns and Flamers (The Holy Trinity of weaponry as far as they're concerned), they go around the galaxy and kick Chaos/Renegades/Xenos ass as much as they can. Grimdark.
* [[Deathwatch]] - If you're an especially skilled Space Marine, or if your chapter just wants to get rid of you, the Deathwatch is always looking for new recruits to train into even more hyper-efficient xenos-killing machines. Acting on behalf of the Ordo Xenos, recruits get hypno-indoctrinated with endless videos of battle brothers getting slaughtered by all manner of xenos until they become frothing angry and need to be physically restrained. Instead of organizing into large task forces, the Deathwatch fights in small special-forces killteams to complete specific objectives and kick ass. Some of its members deliberately obscure or renounce their past ties and become [[Blackshield]]s, permanently joining the Deathwatch until death claims them. Grimdark.
* [[Grey Knights]] - You thought Space Marines were bad dudes? Well loyal citizen, Grey Knights are SUPER-Space Marines who are VERY interested in your heretical Google image searches. They function as the military arm of the Ordo Malleus. In a galaxy and time where literal demons from space hell can punch through reality and turbo-slaughter whole sectors, the Grey Knights are THE final word in supernatural defense. This was especially important since for over 10,000 years, there WERE no good Primarches around to fight the blasphemous ascended being of the week. Every bit of armor, weapon, training and gear they have is top of the line, and nigh irreplaceable. When they fight, a psychic shroud inhibits the psychic powers of whoever they are fighting, and they have psychic Nemesis Force Wea<strike>'''OH CHRIST, I CAN'T GO ON, THIS SHIT IS BANANAS!'''</strike> {{BLAM|Ignore Matt Ward's bullshit, stop making shitty references to Zero Punctuation, and finish the damn article! Psychic Psychic Bendy Spoons.}} Aside from their anti-anti-anti Chaos gear, Grey Knights aren't typically who you send to stop a cult. They're the guys you send to clean up a Chaos defiled planet with boiling oceans, poisonous air, psychedelic skies, and more bones than living people on them. Grimdark. And yet, no Grey Knight has EVER fallen to Chaos. Which is [[awesome]].
* [[Officio Assassinorum]] - The coolest (and scariest) men and women in the Imperium. Whose job it is to kill people. While one would think this would overlap with the duties of every other Imperial organization, it is different because the Assassinorum trains spies and assassins to be more subtle, such as [[Tzeentch|manipulating people to do your dirty work while totally not aware you are behind it]]. Except when they train batshit insane [[Eversor]] Assassins. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a paradox. Leaving no survivors to tell the tale is [[Oinkbane|a subtlety all in itself]]. Grimdark.
* [[Sisters of Silence]] - The militant arm of the Astra Telepathica, they are all Blanks and refuse to speak but are deadly enough to take down any psyker threat and to travel with the likes of [[Leman Russ]] and the Custodes. As you can imagine they feature in some pretty badass artwork but sadly have very little work dedicated to them. It is unknown if they survived the end of the Great Crusade but there have been no indications to the contrary. Given that the Inquisition and Culexus Temple exist their role is partly redundant, but may be justified in that by being under the direct authority of the branch that deals with Psykers it allows a faster and more standardized way of handling Psykers, plus neither zealous assault forces or assassins would exactly fit the job description. Grimdark (?). With the return of Guilliman to the Imperium we now know that the sisters did indeed survive, although they were officially disbanded as a fighting force. Nothing like getting fired the day after your dad dies. Understandably upset, many simply wandered off into the sunset, but a large number stayed to crew the [[Black Ships]] that go around collecting psykers to feed to the Emperor. With Rawbutt Girlyman's return, the Emo Sisters have started to fight on the frontlines again, serving as anti-psyker defense and notably fighting alongside their best bros the Custodes for the first time in 10,000 years (maybe). Considering how bad [[grimdark|the state of the galaxy is]] due to the [[Great Rift]], their job has become wayyyyy busier than ever before.

===Other organizations===
* [[Administratum]] - The pencil pushers of the Imperium, complete with bureaucrats so devoted to their trade that they treat it like a religion, and massive inefficiency. They regulate the [[Imperial Guard]] and the [[Imperial Navy]], dictate and assess the Tithes all worlds in the Imperium are required to pay to Holy Terra, and administer how those things get used. Their archives are so big and so full that if you search anything in them, you'll die wrapped in endless layers of red tape, if you're not accompanied by an Adept. Grimdark.
* [[Ecclesiarchy]] - The Imperial Church which works with the Inquisition to regulate the worship of the Emperor and define what counts as '''HERESY'''. Basically priests with flamethrowers and mega-chainsaws. It also oversees the Sisters of Battle and the [[Schola Progenium]], and works closely with the [[Ordo Hereticus]]. Often has a complicated relationship with the other members branches of the Imperium (Space Marines insisting that the Emperor was a human, the Administratum for overall control of the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus worshiping a deity that ''should'' be the Emprah or not, etc.). Grimdark.
* [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] - The organization charged with maintaining the Imperium's vast network of [[psyker|psykers]], who are necessary for faster than light travel and keeping the Emperor alive on the Golden Throne. Their members are oftentimes forcibly conscripted children who have just barely survived being lynched on their homeworld, and were lucky enough not to be mulched into Emperor Food or Astronomicon fuel. Even so, the process to become a sanctioned psyker is physically and emotionally scaring, and can still lead to a grizzly death via headsplosion, possession, or just losing complete control of your sanity. Grimdark.
* [[Astronomican|Adeptus Astronomican]] - The organization charged with maintaining the light of the Astronomican, the psychic beacon for traveling through the [[Warp]]. Sacrifices assloads of psykers every day to keep the Astronomican running and literally the only thing keeping the entire Imperium from winking out like a candle. Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Knight]]s - The Imperial Knights are the lords of feudalistic worlds where the rulers and the military forces are one and the same, piloting massive combat mecha into battle to defend their worlds or to aid the Imperium. Usually have strong ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Grimdark.
* [[Squat]]s - A [[Dwarf|dwarfish]] race of technologically advanced [[abhuman]]s descended from mining colonists on high gravity planets, their worlds were the only other independent Imperial worlds besides Admech's forge worlds prior to integration into the Imperium from the Tyranids war. Their forces complemented that of the Adeptus Mechanicus' and the [[Imperial Guard]], with a tendency towards [[Colossus War Machine|giant-sized]] [[Land Train|war]] [[Goliath Mega-Cannon|machines]]. Their populations are now greatly diminished due to various reasons. Grimdark.

==Reasons it sucks to live in the Imperium==
{{heresy}}
{{Topquote|Call no man happy until he is dead.|Thought for the day. Also Aeschylus}}
[[File:Lord General.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Imperial Guard generals are some of the sexiest men alive, <s>and the worst part is that almost all of them are celibate</s> Lies, all lies!...On an unrelated note, this is one of [[Dawn of War 2#Imperial Guard|General Castors]] earlier designs.]]
* The High Lords of Terra are brutal and manipulative.
* The Adeptus Arbites make Judge Dredd seem reasonable.
* Thinking about nothing is the only way to survive. Unless you think about the steely musculature and long, shimmering hair of the Emperor.
* The Hive World you almost certainly live on is an overcrowded shithole where being able to breathe non-recycled air is a luxury.
* Thinking about nothing implies you're thinking, and thinking is '''HERESY'''.
* You are constantly under attack by Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, the forces of Chaos, Space Communists, etc.
* If you mutate, you will be at best shunned, but most likely killed, and even death is not the worst case scenario.
* Voices in your sleep keep telling you that Chaos is great, at which point an Inquisitor kills you whether you resist the temptations or not.
* Priests keep telling you the Imperium is great and then report you for not attending the entirety of your third mass service of the designated planetary worship day, at which point you are executed by local law enforcement.
* If you aren't in the Navy you are in the Imperial Guard, which means you will either die painfully on the battlefield or be executed by a Commissar for not being loyal enough to die on the battlefield. Seriously, many worlds hold your funeral the day before departure, people mourn your passing while you are standing next to them, and you are considered to be already dead.
* Your planetary governor is incompetent, ruthless, heretical or just very greedy (if you're lucky). Any that aren't are rarer than an Ork that doesn't WAAAAGH!, and either dead or about to be killed by one or more of the Imperium's enemies (or someone else from the Imperium).
* Even if you DO win the war via sheer hard-work, chances are that you are sterilized and shipped to a labor camp because you MIGHT have the taint of Chaos. And killed.
* Your whole life consists of working your ass off with no hope of social advancement. Unless you're a noble, in which case nothing in this list applies to you anyway.
* You can be executed for taking incorrect care of your gun and angering the Machine Spirit. And that assumes the Machine Spirit doesn't kill you first.
* Loyalist Space Marines never get laid, eve-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

* If you happen to be an Inquisitor, you are expected to watch whatever you order. Vomiting is '''HERESY'''.
* Technology scares you. Not much of a change, though is it?
* You are poor and uneducated. Isn't a change, either.
*If and when you die, the chances that anyone will ever give a shit about your death are nearly nonexistent. Again, nor much of a change there either.
* The Orks might eventually (re)unite and destroy the Imperium.
* The Necrons will eventually awaken and might destroy the Imperium.
* Chaos cannot be defeated and will probably destroy the Imperium sooner or later.
* Tyranids are pouring in from nearly all sides of the galaxy and will probably destroy the Imperium through the power of OMNOM.
* If you're not dead in the Guard, dead in the Navy, very dead in the PDF, or dead as a civilian, you're a heretic and alien-sympathizer. Therefore executed, and therefore dead.
* The Imperium routinely cleanses Xeno species. So if you're a wandering Eldar Craftworld or even a minor xenos race on a conquered planet expect no sympathy or even a quick death.
* Independence is nonexistent, and the Imperium has even destroyed two perfectly healthy, anti-chaos empires called Adrantis Five and Interex, granted the second one they destroyed thanks to Chaos bullshit, [[derp|whoops!]]
** The first was due to a mis-identification by over-eager Imperial Psychotic Killers, and given that the second was a civilization that had a race who created Chaos artifacts, including the big one that led to Horus' corruption, that's arguably a good thing since they might as well have been a ticking time bomb.
* Incompetence is also nonexistent, and if you show competence, you are imbued by the Chaos Gods and therefore executed for Heresy.
* Thinking ANY model is sexy is obvious heresy.
* And let's not even get started on what it's like if you're on the wrong side of the [[Great Rift]].
* Either you work, or you die. It's that simple. SO BACK TO THE MANUFACTORUMS AND STOP READING NOW!!!
**If by some shred of luck you don't get executed for dereliction of duty, then the lasgun you didn't make while slacking off meant that a Guard Regiment got equipped too late to be deployed to save your world.

==However, is the Imperium really ''that'' bad?==
[[File:8eb60203712e469761aeba78ec3c78ec-d7904b7.jpg|350px|thumb|left|Because the only way to keep a [[Roman Empire|stagnating empire]] alive is with excessive force (Ah, but where's the Roman Empire now?) Also, note the [[Imperator Titan|walking cathedral]] several miles in the background that's still bigger than the [[baneblade]] at the front.]]

{{Topquote|[[Noblebright|A line must be drawn between what is good and what is evil]], for if the [[Chaos|Great Enemy]] comes with offers of power to a wretch, what reason does he have to refuse hell if he dwells in it already?|[[Roboute Guilliman|Robu]] telling [[Dante|Luis]] the most obvious thing yet apparently missed for ten millennia of imperial history.}}

However, as said before, if you excuse GW's initial promotion that life in the Imperium must be "Tough and Dark", then average life in the Imperium for the common Joe is for all intents and purposes, uncomfortable and highly unpleasant, but ultimately tolerable for its people (as opposed to those of us in M3 who would likely lack the temperament or the constitution to do well in such a life). This can be further explained below....

===The Reality of the Imperium===
Throughout WH40K, nearly every-single grimdark example in the fluff is shown through the narrative perspective of either Space Marines and Inquisitors whose primary job is to fight against [[Chaos|WTF-Horror Eldritch Abominations]] and [[Orks|genocidal aliens]] for every single day of their lives, or of criminals, crooks and scum such as those living within the darkest pits in Hive Worlds like [[Necromunda]]. Of which, there are only about thirty-two thousand and something hundreds in ratio to the several hundreds of thousands of Civilized Worlds which are the planetary majority in the Imperium - the odds of being born in a desolated dump is actually quite low, and if you are born there, the only thing you need to be wary of are Gang fights and Mutants, and that's only if you are dumb enough to venture in the Underhive or unlucky enough to be born <s>poor</s> there (the poor can still get labor jobs in manufactoria or wherever else or enlist in the PDF and such; worlds are never lacking for jobs needing filling or soldiers to hold the fort). Life as a Middle-Class Imperial (which are the majority in Hive Worlds) is often plain and simple (if boring and repetitive) with your average wage, average working job and with your average necessities in life such as TV (level of propaganda vary) or food (might be artificially processed), and since there is always a demand for workers at some level, unemployment ratios would actually be quite small (unlike real-life, you don't have to fear automation and new technologies taking your job and the Imperium always needs more menial laborers). If you're in the Imperial Guard, the chances of being sent into an eternal meat grinder is actually quite slim, if the Imperium's size and speed is taken into perspective. Although some policies within the Imperium would be regarded as immoral or "Crimes Against Humanity" in today's world, take note that what the Imperium does is a necessary evil. They know what they're doing is morally questionable, but they have to do it since they have no other choice and in the grim setting of WH40K, this is the only solution to be dealt with for the betterment of Humanity as a whole. Unlike every single other being in the entire setting, the Imperium actually knows its necessary evils ''are'' evil and bemoans this fact but grits its teeth and does it anyway, determined to make sure what was done has meaning and was never in vain. This is why, outside of mainstream Sci-Fi where we see Aliens or some entities destroying a planet full of people for no other reason but for the [[Lulz|evulz]], in the Imperium, you see none of that, as in their point of view, to destroy a planet without a justified cause is seen as incredibly wasteful and sinful as you are technically "Wasting the Emperor's resources" (which, ironically enough, can lead to you getting executed,so its something most people try to avoid). There is even a small Ordo of the Inquisition whose job is to investigate exterminatus (planet boom) events and determine whether or not it was justified. About eighty percent of the Inquisitors who order exterminatus are executed by this Ordo for not having sufficient justification. Keep in mind that it is almost (''almost'') unheard of for exterminatus being declared unless really anyone even in the modern day could agree the planet totally needed to die.

The Imperium is also remarkably egalitarian. For the most part, regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you can reach unimaginable heights if you have the right combination of smarts, strength, faith and luck. Space Marine chapter masters were once feral tribesmen or underhive scum, great heroes of the Imperial Guard have come from death worlds, prisons or dead end jobs in hives. Inquisitors come from almost any background imaginable, and are some of the most powerful individuals in the Imperium, and can even sit as one of the High Lords of Terra. The only thing that actually blocks social mobility is the difficulty of standing out against countless trillion other humans on a million worlds. This is implied to be partially intentional as a way to get the very best of humanity in positions of power. By and large, it works. Incompetence is actually extremely rare in the Imperium (which is why it stands out so dramatically). Unfortunately, due to the scale of everything, an incompetent in the wrong place can cause a lot of disastrous effects.

===Foreign Policy on Xenos===
For those that complain of the Imperium's genocidal stance against Aliens (especially prior to the Emperor getting stuck on the golden throne), remember that during Humanitiy's earlier years, virtually every xeno they encountered were either genocidal dickheads or sadistic assholes, so can you really blame them? Take for example, the Craftworld Eldar. On the surface, they may seem benign and offer their hand in friendship, just so you are the ones who walk into a Necron Tomb-World and lose millions where they could have done the same and possibly only lost a few hundred. Regardless, this is easier said than done and they prioritize hostile races over occasional allies. Add to that, Big.E wanted an atheistic empire starving the Chaos gods out with science (although given that the Chaos gods thrive on ''emotion itself'' just as much as worship, Big E was probably doomed from the start) all without falling into '[[Men of Iron]] II: Revenge of the Machines', and those xenos that weren't deeply religious and/or psykers tended to go the A.I. way. So in order to avoid any [[Mortarion|unnecessary questions]] and [[Magnus the Red|unhealthy curiosity]], he basically got a standing order to purge everything on sight in place. Said order was duly followed during the Great Crusade proper, but now that the expansion is over, it is applied much less zealously.

Overall, the tolerance of xenos vary on their threat to Humanity in the first place, mostly since the Imperium does have not enough resources to even deal with those that possess an actual threat (hence why Ork Charadon and Sautekh Necron empires flourish, and no new crusades are sent to bring down the Tau, despite all three being almost next door to Ultramar). If the Imperium encounters another alien civilization that's only interested in trade and does not pose an obvious threat, then the Imperium (although still strictly supervised by the Inquisition) will trade to a certain extent, via [[Diplomacy]]. Put in the fact of the Imperium's "I don't disturb you and you don't disturb me" policy to outsiders, with the fact that there are actually '''A LOT''' of Xenos living within multiple Imperium Worlds contrary of popular opinion, and the fact that the majority of the wars that Humanity has fought was on the defense then the offense (of course this depends wholeheartedly on the Imperium's mood in the first place); you would then realize that on a whole, the Imperium is actually tolerant insofar as it doesn't destroy xenos races right away if they aren't an immediate threat.

An excellent way to understand the Imperium's policies toward aliens is seen in the [[The War of The Beast]] novel series, as it portrays some xenos-sympathizers and populations subjected to them. Ultimately, with threats like Chaos, genestealers, and countless other malevolent forces at large in the galaxy, the Imperium's intolerance is born of crucial necessity, with the xenophobia growing out of it as a by-product. The Imperium cannot afford to be accepting of alien influence and ideas, because you just never know what might be sneaking in with it, and they learned that through painful experience. What might be dismissed as innocent and inconsequential can (and often does) lead to the downfall of entire worlds. The only reason the Tau can act like they can openly befriend the whole galaxy is because they are naively unaware of all of what's out there and what they're potentially inviting in and run the risk of learning the same lessons the Imperium did the hard way. That much has been pointed out by both [[Farsight]] and [[Ciaphas Cain]]. Even with all the above, the Imperium is focused on survival above all else, and if that means working with xenos they may very well do so. [[Roboute Guilliman]] can testify to that, given that said xenos played a major role in his revival.

Besides all of this, the Imperium isn't going around just blamming every species even when it can for a simple reason: the Imperium is not evil. The Imperium is not a murderer, it is not insane, and it tries to be honorable as much as is feasible. Killing a species when it is unnecessary is murder and is definitely dishonorable. The Imperium is a civilization, and is as “civilized” as it can be in the reality it finds itself in. They hate all aliens, even those whom they have accepted as protectorates, allies, neutral, or simply "we live on the same planet, don't mess with us and we won't kill you". However, the Imperium understands the difference between understandable hatred and actually acting on that hatred against beings whose extermination is not necessary. Heck, there are plenty of people whoever is reading this might hate, but you don't go around kill them, do you? Exactly.

===Governmental & Ideological Structure of the Imperium===
Additionally, while the Imperium, as referenced above, looks like a merciless and oppressive empire, it is in fact a confederation of several powerful organizations and a million planets. It occupies a strange place in between libertarian paradise (as planets have a fair bit of autonomy, more than GW would like to admit) and oppressive theocracy, (as shown all over this page) as the Imperium's main policy for what a world does under their control is "Pay the tithe, send your psykers over when the Black Ships show up, and don't make me come over there." Each 'normal' planet in the Imperium (besides specially classified planets like Forge Worlds, Fortress Worlds, Death Worlds...) has its own laws, Government, culture and social order that can [[Attilan Rough Riders|differ]] [[Tallarn Desert Raiders|from]] [[Salamanders|one]] [[Ultramarines|another]] [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|by]] [[Vostroyan Firstborn|A]] [[Space Wolves|LOT.]] Just like today's countries some have merciless dictators (North Korea) and some have democracy to an extent where citizens can choose their own head of government (UK). Furthermore, each planet itself is actually quite independent to the extent where they can have their own armed forces and even wage their own civil wars. Due to this, the Imperium only cares when some serious shit happens (like xenos invasion, [[Chaos|corruption by Oh-God-What-The-Fuck eldritch horrors from beyond space and time]], or when a Planetary Governor decided to declare himself independent of the Imperium), and given that this is the Imperium, these kinds of things vary from "happening by on a regular basis" to "Not seeing an actual war for multiple millennia".

[[File:Tumblr nnrqjzAyKm1si96eio4 400.jpg|thumb|400px|right|A sprawling Imperial city. That ship's around two miles long, by the way. In Rogue Trader, anyway. In the novels more like ten to twenty.]]
Of course, in a few cases where a Planetary Governor or planet does declare independence, it is usually listed as [[HERESY]], however most Governors don't do this kind of thing because [[Chaos|they]] [[Necrons|know]] [[Orks|what's]] [[Dark Eldar|out]] [[Tyranids|there]] and that the Imperium is the only thing that [[Imperial Guard|can]] [[Space Marines|protect]] [[Imperial Navy|them]], because the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] and the system of the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] provides a cheap system of FTL and communication through the horrors of the [[Warp]], and because the Merchant Fleet enables intergalatic commerce. There is also the reason that they have so much autonomy already that there isn't really a reason to leave the Imperium other than sheer greed. It isn't like tithes are high anyway, so just greed and egomania. If a Planet declares independence, he loses the right to FTL and trade with the Imperium, and that's bad for Hive Worlds that need Agri-Worlds in order to survive, meaning the Imperium doesn't even ''need'' to send in their military since ''they'' know that the young usurper would most likely peacefully surrender in that prospect. The reason why the loyalty of some planets differ in question varied over the Imperium's history. During the Great Crusade, most worlds were extremely loyal to both the Imperium and the Emperor because it rescued them from all sorts of indescribable horrors that had plagued them for the thousands of years of the Long Night (Age of Strife). After the Great Crusade, the Imperium remained (mostly) cohesive as a whole due to both a remaining sense of loyalty to their savior and for mutual survival in the face of a severely fucked up galaxy. After a few thousand years of that, the Imperial Cult had gained sufficient strength that the reasons for remaining loyal to the Imperium and the Emperor expanded from just mutual survival to a shared religion where loyalty between each planet must be routinely checked to prevent separatism or [[Horus Heresy|another civil war that essentially kicked the Imperium in the galactic nuts.]] [[Derp|However, even then,]] [[Age of Apostasy|some religious asshat decides to do it all over again]] [[lulz|for the lulz,]] the aftermath of which persuaded some Planetary Rulers to question the legitimacy and thus loyalty to the Imperium. This is why you see that although most planets would never dare to even break away from the Imperium, a certain few that do break away is either due to the above questioning, your typical [[Just as Planned|Chaos hijinks]], xenos manipulation (as is frequently the case when the Tau or Genestealer Cults are involved), or just a Planetary Governor who's either arrogant enough to think he can get away with it or desperate enough to believe his world has nothing to lose from rebellion.

Therefore, the loyalty of most to the Imperium is not out of an ideological obsession to stamp out HERESY, but of pragmatism and necessity in order to survive in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium as Protectorates. This real-life perspective again, is then supported in WH40K where the Imperium, being a decentralized but powerful semi-autonomous group of Corporate entities, have different ways of pledging allegiance to the Emperor himself rather than the State: the Inquisition stamps out anyone caught separating from or perverting the Emperor's rule of conduct as Heresy, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] worships the Emperor as an aspect of another pagan Machine-god called the Omnissiah and benefits from an ancient pact of alliance dating to the Great Crusade, and the [[Adeptus Astartes]] are altered transhumans who merely view the Emperor as an exemplar of humanity, but were created by the Emperor himself and so can claim a closer connection to him than the other above-mentioned organizations via their genetic descent from the Primarchs. They all might just as well declare each other's ideologies as HERESY but each of them are personal Protectorate vassals to the Emperor himself, and both know that they need to work together lest Humanity as a whole goes extinct. Thus, as said multiple times before, the Imperium is not a centralized superstate, and more akin to a Coalition of Confederated Mini-Empires that's disguised as a Galactic Superpower (though the Imperium has its independent military and technological might with which to enforce its laws); or in real-life examples, the Imperium is more of a mixture between the "Protectorate" system like the Roman Empire, which allowed local governments to exist as Protectorates as long as they pay taxes and say that the Emperor is all "Good and Dandy", and today's UN which allows member nations to join while still keeping their national/cultural dignity, along with the Veto Powers between the founding members of China, US, Russia, France and Britain so they can keep each others powers in balance (Similar to the equal powers between the High-Lords of Terra).

Additionally, while chastity and prudence are technically heralded as virtues by [[Sisters of Battle|some]] organizations and planets within the Imperium, the Imperium as a whole is decidedly pro-sex. The reason is more utilitarian than [[Slaanesh|hedonistic]]; more babies means more soldiers. Even in the smallest sectors, there are always more planets to colonize (even if it's on the ruins of some other civilization) so space is seldom a concern. Imperial citizens are encouraged, by most local customs, to be fruitful so that the tithes may be paid. If you'd ask "why not just clone more soldiers?", the reason the Imperium doesn't do that (atleast excluding their black projects like the [[Afriel Strain]] soldiers) is because it's considered a perversion of the holy human form, hence it's labeled as heresy. Plus, attempting to clone regiments of soldiers on a rapid basis is likely to come with a variety of genetic problems that would hinder the Imperium rather than help it. Then there's the problem that the technology to clone a full human with a functioning mind (as opposed to a brain-dead clone fit for making into a servitor) is extremely difficult, to say nothing of how the clones' souls seem to be inherently abnormal for reasons nobody can explain.

And if anyone still complains that the Imperium is still 'dark and miserable,' just shove Stephen Baxter's [[Xeelee Sequence]] down their throats, portraying a human empire that is so downright evil and malicious that you will actually applaud their [[rape|cosmic butt-whipping]] by the nigh god-like Xeelee. Seriously, the Interim Coalition of Governance is what happens when the [[Marines Malevolent]] becomes a pan-galactic empire that has no qualms in sending over [[Grimdark|200 trillion child soldiers to die in a rather hopeless and pointless war;]] they make the policies of the Imperium [[Noblebright|look like the]] [[Star Trek|United Federation of Planets]] [[BrightHammer40k|in comparison.]]

===IoM in contrast to True Totalitarian Regimes===
Whilst it ''is'' true that the IoM combines many elements from all of the dictatorships on Earth, the key word you are looking for is elements. All of the dystopian tropes in the IoM are nitpicks from great dystopian classics. They aren't a true mixture of various authoritarian tropes, but are mere themes to set up the atmosphere of the Imperium. The presence of authoritarianism is there all right. However, it is not outright enforced; the Imperium doesn't care how your planet is run as long as the tithes come in on time and there's no outright heresy to be found. Imperial law focuses on best practices, security against subtle enemy attack methods, and anti-Chaos related manners of thinking (like a distinct lack of questioning the unknown because it could enter you and play havoc with your world). Basically, as long as you have laws that don't leave you wide open for the horrors in space, the Imperium is fine with you. And as mentioned before, the dystopian elements varies between planets to planets with the fact that you could actually ''leave'' the planet if given money and time. The reason why places like Oceania from [[1984]], North Korea, and the aforementioned Interim Coalition of Governance are terrifying is because they are actually true totalitarian governments with extremely nihilistic attitudes. These are totalitarian regimes done horrifyingly right. These are governments which pride themselves on their malevolence and power; in which an ordinary person has little to no chance of leaving the hell hole they are born into. Their governmental and ideological structure is done in such a way that the mere act of pragmatism will be condemned for [[Heresy|HERESY]]. Places like these are concentrated and true dystopias in which control is so absolute that you live in a personal prison for all eternity. These governments make the raging incompetence of the Imperium look like Fantasia. Furthermore, the Imperium has one thing these governments do not have: a sense of humanity and heroism. Throughout all the GW works on the Imperium, we have characters who show remarkable amounts of [[Sanguinius|selfless]] [[Ollanius Pius|heroism,]] [[Ciaphas Cain|courage,]] [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt|and]] [[Saint Celestine|intense]] [[Vulkan|humanity]]. The protagonists (and general "good guys") in these stories consistently try to move heaven and earth to [[Logan Grimnar|protect the weak]] against all odds. We almost never see that kind of optimistic effort in the aforementioned dystopian works. This is why [[1984]] and the [[Xeelee Sequence]] are so horrifying: there is no hope, no epic struggle, no grandeur... just a collapsing social reality where the very concept of humanity is treated like a nonexistent joke.

Essentially, what we are trying to say here is that the worst thing the Imperium can do is not out of malice, but out of desperation, incompetence and necessity. For example:

''"We are forced to commit exterminatus on a billion souls because we have no choice and the [[Chaos|alternative]] [[Xeno|outcome]] would be much worse. I pray that these innocent souls would meet peace with the Emperor.''

In contrast this with Oceania which go along the lines of:

''"We torture you not because of some politically motivated means or a necessary evil. We do so because we want to exercise our power. We do so because we can."''

Or the Interim Coalition of Governance:

''"We are ready to send over a untold number of kids to die against the Xeelee. Why you ask? Because it is more economically viable to protect our sweet, sweet moolah and we need something to cover up our deep insecurities and spite."''

The bottom line: the IoM embodies not perpetual evil and suffering for its own sake, but desperate measures taken in desperate times, exacerbated further by inefficiency and human error. It may be shit by our standards, but considering all the other alternatives that would actually stand a chance in the grim darkness of the far future, it's pretty clear the Imperium is the ''least horrible'' alternative for humanity.

In a way, this makes it worse than the full dystopias as those guys have no one but themselves to blame. The Imperium simply cannot afford anything better.

===Character development at meta level===

From a meta point of view the evolution of the Imperium reflects that of the franchise and the company's interest and capabilities, back in the 80s during the Rogue Trader GW writers didn't bother too much about the possible ramifications of their character profiles, they were after all doing things for kids which wanted something cool and funny; morality, rationale and introspection didn't really have that much of a priority, at best there was a lot of parody with a pinch of political commentary inherent in british pop culture.

As editions moved the Imperium went from a glam-coloured 80s feudal cyberpunk place for adventures, fun and profit to the stage were the "Grimdark" entered in full effect, think of it a bit like a child turning into a teenager who wants to sound cool a deep, edginess was the order of the day for the Third Edition, this is from where a lot of the dystopian stuff we all know and love came from, Battlefleet Gothic with their slave-powered ships is a great example, the original portrayal of the necrons as eldritch horrors directed by the C'tan are born from this edition too, it was the lowest point of characterization for the Imperium in terms of dark induced apathy.

Gradually, thanks in great part to the efforts of Black Library writers and the simple fact many fans were already adults who wanted something more "elaborate" the Imperium started to gain their humane elements, the Gaunt Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain put in evidence that no, not everyone in the Imperial Guard were zealots and jerkasses, Uriel Ventris and other SM portrayals allowed the Adeptus Astartes to win back their heroic aspect and while Matt Ward broke a lot of the old fluff he allowed for factions such as the Necrons to become something more than a horde of metallic zombies.

The case of commissar Cain is special, some people didn't like to consider him canon as he broke with the overall idea of grimdarkness, he starts as an anomaly, a secretly epicurean, self-loathing character capable of decent and even heroic acts as well as abject fear who visits worlds which suddenly are not hells on earth, through his eyes we see both military and civilians who are, despite the obvious and obligatory cultural dissonances, humans with their loves, hatreds, good intentions and limitations, enjoying life whenever they can and showing commodities and services which shouldn't exist in the grim darkness of the far future, this sudden injection of humanity shakes a great deal of the fanbase perception of the Imperium, they suddenly discover this galactic warring monster is quite more than a stage for endless dystopian war, suddenly imperials have a great deal more to fight for than debased ideology, they are fighting for survival, and that survival can allow for something more than slave-work at factories alternated with unending sermons, behind the facade of the fanatic and the mad you find reality ensues, ruthlessness with your own is a ticket for friendly fire incidents, even the staunchest sororitas has a pension to think of and the administratum is not totally filled of incompetent people.

Gaunt's Ghost work in tandem with Ciaphas Cain to add more humanity to the Imperium, the Tanith First and Only are people, they remember their world of forest and stone cities destroyed, they clearly see their memory as something worth fighting for, and while they are loyal to the Imperium they will notice when there is something unfair and, if possible, deal with it, even at terminal strength, while Colonel-Commissar may be in the minority of competent commanders he and other characters in HQ put in evidence you can't run a military force purely with lash and bolt-pistol, at least not totally, like many real-life regimes you still need a sandwich as well as a shotgun to deal with people, remove the sandwich, use the shotgun too much and you will eventually find the dog bitting back.

The Horus Heresy series helped too, as the origins of the Imperium were vastly expanded and explained, allowing for a better understanding of the choices taken by both loyalists and traitors, the Emperor in particular lost their portrayal of a perfect being and finally was revealed to be a more human character, with great inentions but ultimately flawed and capable of failure. This also allowed for a better understanding of how the Imperium became so religious, repressive and authoritian despite, or perhaps, because Big E original plans to fight the Chaos Gods by starving them, the primarchs background was further explored and the tragedy behind their fall became now a known narrative, all these aspects adding a "depth of field".

With the return of Guilliman in the last editions we finally come to a point where the Imperium as an entity recovers, or more exactly gains, its capability for self-criticism, and with it a gut-punching self-awareness, we see through Guilliman's eyes the vast gears of traditionalist government, the monumental historic inertia pushing things to the brink, the continuous and terrible technological, economic and social degradation mankind has been subjected for centuries fueled by terrible wars of extinction.

From such capability to see these flaws is that the desire to break with this unending cycle of darkness is born, for the first time we see the chance of reform not born from Tzeentchian influence or Xenos infiltration, stable (so far) technological advancement finally happens, the character of Belisarius Cawl comes to mind, he is certainly a maverick, his relation with Guilliman and his subordinates is interesting, he knows his own value and dares others on the Imperium's side in a way which reminds a bit of the oldest editions where Rogue Traders went to strange and extravagant adventures, but we also see his backstory, what eventually shaped in his current self, his manias and hopes, no longer just "the tech support guy who knows how to fix the server", but a person, someone who can go talk face to face with Guilliman.

And hence in the Imperium of this modern age ancient traditional powers find themselves checked, not to say this brave new messiah in blue is not without his limits and contradictions, more than once Guilliman has to recognize his own mistakes, and he is still blind to others, and some things he attempts don't end well, and while the situation has become more critical than ever since, perhaps, the Horus Heresy, the Imperium and characters such as his "Uncrowned King" as narrative entities finally recover their potential for the humane. The Imperium is still a place of unending war and misery, en epic saga with many elements of cosmic horror history, but with a glimpse of a path to, in words of Black Library "Salvation".

===In Summation===
To put it simply, the Imperium is more or less a Feudal society rather than an "Empire" in the modern sense like is seen in Star Wars or a thousand other Science Fiction/Space Fantasy stories. You have a central authority in the Adeptus Terra and a unifying religion in the Imperial Creed, but the assorted fiefdoms of the Imperium generally are left to rule themselves without that much oversight from the central authority as long as the taxes come in on time and no open rebellion is occurring. Given that the Imperium is 40k's counterpart to the Empire in Warhammer Fantasy which is more or less the medieval/renaissance era Holy Roman Empire but bigger and more technologically advanced, this isn't all that surprising. And much like those feudal era societies you have some parts which are much better off than others, in agriculturally rich land with ample access to trade and developed cities feudal societies could rival anything that the earlier societies of antiquity could make in terms of sophistication. But poor provinces mostly made out of useless swampland and rocks are of course going to be poor hicktowns (somehow their ancestors thought settling in said swamp and rocks was a brilliant idea). Furthering the parallels to feudal Europe is that the Imperium is built atop of the corpse of an older and more urbane society; Rome for Medieval Europe and Dark Age humanity for the Imperium, and emerged out of a prolonged dark age following the collapse of that old empire. And the most important thing to note is that Feudal governments did not exercise absolute control, for a feudal peasant your local Baron had far more influence over your life than the King or Emperor would, and how harsh or kind your life was depended largely on the nature of your local overlord. Similarly, some places would have elected heads of local government like mayors in many cities, some would be ruled directly by the church, and even the laws and customs could vary dramatically between the domains of the various nobles. In essence, the Imperium is a space medieval society that due to the original generation of games workshop writers being history nerds with degrees and shit, actually resembles a medieval society much better than stories supposedly set in faux-medieval times. The Imperium has much more in common with the Empire of Charlemagne (during the Great Crusade) or the Holy Roman Empire than it does with any of the expansionist and/or authoritarian regimes that arose from the 1700s and onwards.

You could also hand the whiners the Ciaphas Cain books, which repeatedly showcases Imperial worlds that are actually fairly decent places to live, with planetary governments that actually give a shit about their people, and are perfectly capable of surviving an invasion or two (or several, in the case of ork threats) and still returning to a state of normalcy after the organizations whose purpose is to deal with these threats does their jobs (who, by the way, eight times out of ten are usually able to do so without leaving the planet in question a smoking ruin).

Space feudalism is even implied in the way the people in the lore speak of the Imperium. For instance, a politician might tell his fellow "watch what you say or the Imperium will come" or something. The Imperium is an outsider to most of the worlds it is made of, not an immediate presence. This is, like real life, out of necessity. Real life feudalism was due to social breakdown following Rome's collapse, and technology limited just how much one group could control. The Imperium is much the same, this time due to sheer scale involved and the collapse of order following the Iron War and the Age of Strife.

==Anthems of the Imperium of Man==
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duYoKxb0IeI - The anthem of the Imperium of the 41st Millennium.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM_c_avPlx4 - Battle anthem of the Adeptus Astartes

==See Also==
* [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)]], for their slightly less grimdark and '''much''' smaller scale alleged Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Skaven|The Underempire]] for their ''actual'' Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Azyr]] for their [[noblebright]] [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]] counterpart.

==Summary==
[[grimdark|In the grim dark future of the 41st Millennium, there is only bleak, grim, black, hopeless, dismal, barren, gloomy, gray, joyless, dour, dreary, dark, cheerless, glum, oppressive, somber, grim darkness. And the sugar beet/cane is extinct.]]
[[File:DAoT.jpg|580px|center|thumb|What the Imperium would likely look like if the Mechanicus ever decided to get their head out of their collective ass. Except there would be skulls and gothic architecture everywhere (which is automatically superior in every way to stupid shiny smooth shit).]]
[[File:1342123121.jpg|580px|center|thumb|Ah, much better...]]

==External Link==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MeVxKZBOfM The history of the Imperium in about a minute and a half.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUrSQNSN6_c The Story of the Imperium in a musical piece] - [[Great Crusade|Slow start that]] [[Horus Heresy|soon erupts into allout badassery]] [[Time of Ending|and is quenched in a desperate last stand against the mighiest threats,]] [[Grimdark|before it flickers and dies...]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHSvSZ-UEFc An (arguably) more optimistic but no less brutal take on the eternal Imperium and its history. Times of majesty, times of destruction, times of glory, times of despair, they all alternate and repeat with the one endless constant of war.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csu6vbWA-YQ A new song to herald the trying time of the Imperium] - [[Black Crusade|A slow, malevolent start]] [[Great Rift|to capture the spread of evil]] [[Cadia|over the closest thing to good in the universe]] [[Belisarius Cawl|followed by]] [[Saint Celestine|faint whispers of]] [[Roboute Guilliman| hope]] [[Indomitus Crusade|that erupts in an enormous cresendo,]] [[grimdark|before fading with a quiet whine.]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1CQ7Vwz8Eo the Imperium of man's theme song, less serious, more accurate perhaps.]

{{Imperium}}
{{Template:40k-Governments}}
[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

The Imperium of Man

2020-06-13T04:13:58Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: Undo revision 664256 by 2601:197:B7F:E0C0:ECC6:61A0:1FBE:AF39 (talk)

{{Infobox 40k Nations
|name=Imperium of Man
|image=[[Image:Imperium_Flag.jpg ‎|300px|center]]
|Capital=[[Holy Terra]]
|Official Languages= High Gothic (aka Latin), Low Gothic (aka English/French/German/Italian/Russian/Chinese/Literally Every Language) and its countless dialects, Binary and billions of minor and local languages
|Power=Galactic Superpower
|Size=Galactic but stretched thin More than 1 million to 10 million planets
|Head of State=[[Emperor of Mankind]]
|Head of Government=[[Roboute Guilliman|Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman]], [[High Lords of Terra]], [[Dante|Lord Regent of Imperium Nihilus Dante]]
|Governmental Structure=Unitary Atheistic Authoritarian Absolute Monarchy (''Great Crusade'') Feudal Totalitarian Theocratic Dictatorship (''Age of Apostasy'') Feudal Theocratic Authoritarian Confederated Oligarchy (''41st Millennium'') Unitary Authoritarian Semi-Theocratic Confederation (''42nd Millennium'')
|State Religion/Ideology=[[Imperial Truth|State Atheism]] (''Great Crusade'') [[Imperial Cult]] (''32nd Millennium onward'')
|Demographic=[[Humans]], [[Abhuman|Abhumans]], minor [[Xenos]] races, assorted Transhumans
|Military Force=[[Imperial Guard]], [[Space Marines]], [[Militarum Tempestus]], [[Sisters of Battle]], [[Inquisition]], [[Planetary Defense Force]]
}}
{{Topquote|What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?|Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2}}
{{Topquote|Great empires are not maintained by timidity.|Tacitus}}
{{Topquote|This bloated, rotten carcass of an empire is driven not by reason and hope, but by fear, hate and ignorance.|[[Roboute Guilliman]], who is [[Butthurt|not pleased]] by the [[Grimdark|actual state]] of the Imperium}}
[[File:Imperial Aquila.jpg|thumb|300px|left|The Aquila, the symbol of the Imperium and personal heraldry of the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]]. Failing to show proper reverence to the Aquila is [[heresy]] punishable by *BLAM*ing. The two heads represent looking towards the future while being [[Imperial Truth|blind towards the mistakes of the past]], while the two heads and differing feet represent the Terra-Mars alliance.]]
The '''Imperium of Man''' (Lat.: '''IMPERIVM HVMANVM''' or '''IMPERIVM HOMINIS''') is a gigantic, galaxy-spanning Civilization (to give you an idea of how truly massive this empire is, the most conservative estimates place its population at four quadrillion. Estimates that take into account the huge number of what are essentially [[Hive|cramped apartment-building planets]]? Now we're talking upwards of FORTY quadrillion. Oh, and this is not counting planets they have lost track of due to various heresies and other catastrophies, not to mention the general incompetence of those [[Administratum|blasted pencil-push]]{{BLAM}}) that contains the vast majority of humanity in the tabletop game ''[[Warhammer 40K]]''. It is often stereotyped in popular media as a xenophobic, amoral, gargantuan, militaristic, merciless, stratified, theocratic, [[Paranoia|paranoid, dystopian, totalitarian]], semi-police state and hellishly oligarchical bureaucracy. Why this is called 'stereotypical' to begin with is questionable though since it's absolutely fucking true{{BLAM}} Think of a hideous amalgamation of the [[Roman Empire]] including Byzantine Era with its sheer amount of scheming and administrative stupidity, pre-Reformation Catholic Church, [[Nazi|Nazi Germany]], Imperial Japan, Soviet Russia and George Orwell's ''[[1984]]'' spread out across the stars, under constant attack by aliens and subject to countless [[Chaos|disasters]] everyday. Add in the fanatical worship of a [[Emperor|dead dictator]] and it's basically North Korea IN SPEHSS (but somehow fucking works).

However, this is what [[GW]] ''wants you to think''; in all retrospective outside of the popular perspective, the Imperium of Man can actually be a pretty nice place to live depending on where you actually live... although GW description does apply to Death Worlds, some Hive Worlds and the Imperium as a whole. Sure, there are shit-holes like Catachan, but because of its size and extreme variety, you also have a higher chance of being born in places that shits all over any modern developed country and may even be led by people better than Gandhi. While it's plausible that atrocities happen all the time in the Imperium, given its size, that doesn't mean that everyone is always doomed. Unfortunately Games Workshop decided to ignore this aspect since it is not [[Derp|metal and grimderp]] enough...and thus does not help with [[Profit|sales]].

Almost everything 40K related and homebrewed on this website is a sterling example of /tg/ taking creative liberties with what the Imperium stands for. These include, but are not limited to, the [[Angry Marines]], [[Commissar Raege]], [[Commissar Fuklaw]], [[Pretty Marines]], [[Reasonable Marines]]... Truly, anonymous delivers!

==Synopsis==
[[File:Iron Men 40k.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The [[Iron Men]] are credited with fucking humanity right over, just like the [[Old Ones]] did with the rest of the galaxy's inhabitants.]]
The Imperium consists of over a million habitable worlds and is of such size that the loss of a few dozen planets (along with billions of citizens) is not even worth the paperwork it would take to declare said worlds Perdatus. Under constant threat and attack by a myriad of powerful alien races and traitorous forces, the Imperium is engulfed in a constant galaxy-spanning war. The everyday rule of the Imperium is left to the [[High Lords of Terra]], who basically don't give a fuck about anybody and have no clue what the hell they're doing half of the time.

The figurehead and subject of compulsory religious veneration, the immortal [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] forged the Imperium out of the [[Age of Strife]]. Being physically fucked for the past 10,000 years, he sits immobile and connected to the Golden Throne far from the sight of his subjects, witnessed his formerly [[Star Trek|glorious utopia of science and reason]] drop 99.9% of its IQ points against his will, and requires the sacrifice of many psykers a day to keep him alive, though this hasn't prevented his body from decomposing (he still has some fleshy bits left) and now looks like a mummy without the wrappings. [[Heresy]] is the greatest crime one can commit in the Imperium, the punishment for which is a painful death or torture followed by a painful death. Technology is barely understood and basically mythological, and even the Techpriests are afraid of their machines (this aspect of the Techpriests has been lessened over the years, now they're more like spiritualistic and very dogmatic scientists rather than technowizards.)

[[Image:Forbidden_Love.jpg|thumb|right|This would never happen. Ever. At least, not where anyone could see it.]]
The Imperium is also one of the biggest entities in the 40k universe, like a fatguy that hogs half the couch for himself and forces the others to sit on the arm rests. Some fa/tg/uys theorize that if the Imperium falls it may take the rest of the galaxy with it, as it holds so much territory that it staves off the Tyranids and the Orks before they can nom/loot everyone else's shit. (e.g. Dawn of War II, Spess Mahreens nuke the Tyranid fleet before they can nom an Eldar Craftworld.)

It's now a complete shithole and is not even remotely close to the Emperor's vision for humanity. Reasons for this include the Imperium's leaders being heartless fuckwads and the necessity of such an uncaring organization for the survival of humanity in a galaxy that wants to kill them in a million painful ways.

That's fucking grimdark, but at least there's Slaanesh to lighten everything u-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an approved author. +}}

Well, honestly, Nurgle is at least a pretty nice gu-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Well, at least we have Tzee-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Kho-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. ++ And for fucks sake please stop mentioning the cha--}}
{{BLAM}}

===Roboute Guilliman in M42===
With the events of Gathering Storm and the Dark Imperium, the awakening of [[Roboute Guilliman|Big Blue Wonder]] ushered sweeping changes within the governmental ruling of the Imperium. Roboute's self coronation as Lord Commander (His old job) and political reforms that meant the firing of some High Lords of Terra meant that the IoM is becoming more centralized like it was during the Great Crusade.

Of course, centralization means a more authoritarian Imperium. Nevertheless, Guilliman is the best living person to be given the responsibility in fixing the bureaucratic nightmare of the Imperium, so there is little reason to panic. One of the biggest reasons the vast majority of the Imperial Guard spends entire careers fighting rebelling worlds instead of humanity’s enemies is because each planet is highly autonomous and their governments simply blame the Imperium for the hardships caused by the greed of those worlds’ nobles and governors. So, an Imperium with greater authority and control over its worlds would increase efficiency and effectiveness of planetary governments in the Imperium’s usual inefficient methods; then the eighty percent of Imperial Guard forces fighting rebels can go banhammer aliens and daemons instead. Some (including the High Lords themselves, to the surprise of nobody) consider Roboute's rule as a dictatorship (not like they can honestly stop him since he has a blood claim to the throne and effectively controls all Space Marines and Custodes), but the reality is that whilst the Imperium is centralizing in a manner akin to how it was in the Great Crusade, certain political entities such as the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition still holds significant clout and influence over the Imperium. With Guilliman currently updating his new Codex Imperialis for good governance and ruling, it is safe to say that the quality of life for the Imperium would be slowly improving. Of course, the vastness and sheer diversity of the IoM combined with the unwillingness of the above-mentioned political entities to accept reform means that the actual results are ''far'' more complicated than this. Nonetheless, the very fact that Guilliman's rule is actively trying to improve the Imperium with mixed results shows that the Imperium unlike traditional oppressive regimes, still have a chance for the better. It would still be the Imperium we know and love, but it would be far more efficient and competent, since efficiency and competency was the biggest crutch on why the Imperium is in such a dire situation. Resistance to Guilliman’s reforms would most likely be met by a visit from loyal Inquisitors and the Inquisitor’s who plot against his reforms would probably be vanished by Raven Guard sent by Guilliman. Anyone in the way of his plans would simply...disappear or end up mysteriously dead. Primarchs are not known for taking shit. Or for accepting “no” as an answer to their orders.

Furthermore, it seems that the jingoistic foreign policy of the Imperium towards xenos for 10,000 years has relaxed slightly in favor of pragmatism on Robby's part, most exemplified by the current alliance of convenience between the Imperium and the Ynnari (It's hard to say exactly how sincere the relationship ''is''; Guilliman himself noted that the Ynnari could be respected but not necessarily trusted, and the [[Visarch]] has voiced criticism of [[Yvraine]] acting as a "lapdog of the Imperium", so while they're not fighting each other they can hardly be called the best of friends). However, it has been suggested that Big Bobby G and Yvraine are totally hot for each other and want to have crazy butt-s...OH NOT AGAIN! {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|HERESY!}} It could also be due to [[Great Rift|the giant Warp scar]] spawned from Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade and how Chaos is now a bigger threat to the Imperium than ever. G-man also appointed [[Dante]] as warden to administer the other half of the Imperium across the Great Rift.

==Forces Of The Imperium==
* [[Adeptus Custodes]] - The Emperor's personal bodyguards who make ''Space Marines'' look like ordinary men. Their armour has so much bling it makes even the most pimptastic Space Marine's Artificer Armour look cheap. Their modification and training, not to mention the loss of the Emperor, robbed most of them of empathy and the ability to form connections with other people (even each other), as the only being they trusted absolutely is now stuck between life and death. Others are quite reasonable guys, and after 10,000 years on the bench, and a minor deamon invasion of Holy Terra, they're back in the game in a big way. Anyway, they go to insane lengths and cross any moral line to ensure His safety, and are now going forth on Crusade to help guard humanity as a whole from unending terror. Grimdark.
* [[Space Marines]] - The enhanced, power armored supersoldiers who form the elite warriors of the Imperium. All they do is train, sleep, pray, fight, and die; and they love every second of it (being the loyal warrior monks they are). There are only a million of them, but since the Imperium only has about a million planets it kind of evens out. They are no longer human, and remember nothing but an endless service of bloodshed culminating in their own violent deaths. Grimdark.
[[Image:Guardsmen_fighting.jpg|thumb|right|Die horribly or Join the Guard and THEN die horribly. At least that way you'll get a sweet-looking [[Lasgun|flashlight]].]]
* [[Imperial Guard]] - The countless quadrillions of regular humans who form the vast majority of the Imperium's armed forces. Very similar to a conventional modern military, they are a bunch of manly farmers and factory workers fighting off [[Necrons|unstoppable robots with guns that completely rip their skin off]], [[Tyranids|huge monstrous aliens who want to OM NOM NOM everything]], [[Chaos Space Marines|batshit insane super humans who want to kill everyone in painful ways and sacrifice their victims' souls while doing it]], [[Orks|barbaric aliens who are made for FIGHTAN AND WINNIN']], [[Eldar|mysterious spehss pansies who don't give a shit about anyone else]], [[Dark Eldar|spehss elves who wants to torture and rape them with the worst forms of BDSM]], [[Tau|Orwellian weeaboo space communists]], or [[Rak'gol|obscure but brutal spider Cthulhu reptiles that like to rip your intestines out before stealing all your stuff]], with little more than a [[Lasgun|flashlight]], [[Tallarn Desert Raiders|reinforced cardboard]], [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|standard-issue chest-hair]] and [[Cadia|BALLS O' STEEL]]. Or that's what you might be led to believe: a big part of the Imperium's wars are fought against fellow humans (or [[Lost and the Damned|things that once were human]]) but decided they had enough of being crapped upon by greedy superiors and uncaring leaders. Selfishly ignoring the fact the Imperium has no problem with them overthrowing said greedy superiors and uncaring leaders so long as Imperial law, taxes, and tithes are obeyed. But no, that would mean admitting their own cowardice was their own fault, so they rebel against "the man" instead and "the man" curbstomps them in the face for it. Most Imperial Guardsmen are conscripted every now and then from the best Planetary Defence Force troopers on a given world. Some planets supplement this supply with prisoners, while others give over their entire population to the Imperium as their tithe, the birth rate equaling the recruitment rate. Most die or muster out and they will never again see home, unless they're fighting on it. [[Grimdark]].
[[Image:Magos_Explorator_Delphan_Gruss.jpg|thumb|right|Combat Dentists, the Mechanicum's leading specialists on tooth heresy.]]
* [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] - An organization of Tech-priests. They have a monopoly over all Imperial technology from giant mecha to cybernetics, and almost everyone else in the Imperium is afraid of their machines. As a result, the Admech has to loan their techpriests to other organizations in the form of Enginseers, though for Space Marines it's more a work study program as they'll send one of their own troops to become a Techmarine. Independent scientists also exist, but only as long as they don't get killed for [[heresy]] or stay below the Mechanicus radar. Once these independents get powerful or competent enough to make a difference, they get wiped out or absorbed into Cult Mechanicus. Includes [[Adeptus Titanicus]]‎, [[Legio Cybernetica]] (Insidious Death Robotics, Inc), Centurio [[Ordinatus]] (look at name, figure it out), [[Skitarii]] (basically Imperial Guard of the Mechanicus), Auxilia [[Myrmidon]] (tech-priest war savants, stuff of nightmares), and the Ordo Reductor (siege specialists, infamous for ripping off the Space Marines by making the [[Thallax]]). Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Navy]] - Job is pretty self-explanatory, they split with the Guard after the Horus Heresy. They are a very large organization, as you would expect from a navy tasked with protecting a million worlds. Their ships range in size from meters-long fighters to kilometers-long battleships which are quite capable of [[Exterminatus|blowing up planets]], mostly Imperial ones, which they do at the command of the Inquisition on a regular basis in the fight against '''HERESY'''. Because Humanity was ass-raped by AI 15,000 years ago, the Imperial Navy uses huge human crews, most of which are "recruited" (i.e. Shanghaied) to die in space as one of billions of expendable men. Grimderp, considering not even some hydraulic lifters are employed when reloading even though the rest of the ship is high tech.
* [[Adeptus Arbites]] - These guys police every world in the Imperium. They're like [[Judge Dredd]] but more Grimdark. Arbites are usually one of the first institutions to be set up on a world and are equipped to fight a small war, with equipment ranging from power mauls and suppression shields to lasguns and even the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]]. On the ground the Arbites have four units: Patrol Groups, whose job it is to make sure no wrongdoing occurs in the settlement; Shock Troops who are sent in when there are riots, street wars and other generalized disturbances (they usually shoot on sight if you are anywhere near the problem center); Execution Teams who pursue specific guilty individuals or groups; and Snatch Squads who are charged with capturing a specific individual or group for questioning. The criminals caught by the Arbites usually wind up dead [[Blam|one way]] [[Penal legion|or another]]. The Inquisition often uses the Arbites to apprehend certain individuals if they do not wish to be directly involved. Grimdark.
* [[Inquisition]] - The KGB of the Imperium. Their job is to keep said Imperium secure and loyal. With jurisdiction over nearly anyone and anything, the Inquisitors and their agents have very few impediments on their endless quest to contain heresy. The Inquisition consists of three main branches: the Ordo Hereticus, who's duty is to eliminate or contain threats such as '''HERESY''', mutants, and traitors; the Ordo Xenos, who specialize in destruction of alien threats, and the Ordo Malleus who are called on to stop Daemonic incursions. If they do their job poorly, entire worlds get destroyed based on the barest rumors. Alternatively, if they do their jobs well, those worlds still get destroyed because there are no other alternatives to stop the many genocidal threats the Imperium faces. Also, nobody expects them. Grimdark.
[[Image:Pimpin_Imperium.png|thumb|right|The Inquisition: not as easy as it looks.]]
* [[Sisters of Battle]] - The [[Ecclesiarchy|Ecclesiarchy's]] army, the nuns-with-guns or bolter bitches. Originally, they were an isolated all-female cult on a backwater world, and subsequently became the personal army of [[Goge Vandire]] during his fab [[Age of Apostasy|Age of Apostasy]]. After that blew over, they came into their current role through some top-notch [[rules lawyers|rules lawyering]]- after the Age of Apostasy, the Ecclesiarchy was only barred from having ''men'' under arms, so the Sisters weren't disbanded. They are trained from early age (because they are picked up as orphans) and in the end they become one of the best fighting troops of the Imperium, second only to the Astartes themselves. Their faith is so great that even Grey Knights are jealous of it. [[/tg/]] likes to see Sisters in different heretical fantasies, often involving [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh]], [[Shlicktau|female Tau]] and [[The wet dream of selena agna|Eldar Farseers]]. But what the poor bastards don't know is that the Sisters are all into [[FAIL|celibacy]] (though some lore says otherwise), love only the Emperor (sometimes it's a damn shame), and are so zealous and fanatical that they would turn off just about any human man anyway. Armed with their trusty Bolters, Meltaguns and Flamers (The Holy Trinity of weaponry as far as they're concerned), they go around the galaxy and kick Chaos/Renegades/Xenos ass as much as they can. Grimdark.
* [[Deathwatch]] - If you're an especially skilled Space Marine, or if your chapter just wants to get rid of you, the Deathwatch is always looking for new recruits to train into even more hyper-efficient xenos-killing machines. Acting on behalf of the Ordo Xenos, recruits get hypno-indoctrinated with endless videos of battle brothers getting slaughtered by all manner of xenos until they become frothing angry and need to be physically restrained. Instead of organizing into large task forces, the Deathwatch fights in small special-forces killteams to complete specific objectives and kick ass. Some of its members deliberately obscure or renounce their past ties and become [[Blackshield]]s, permanently joining the Deathwatch until death claims them. Grimdark.
* [[Grey Knights]] - You thought Space Marines were bad dudes? Well loyal citizen, Grey Knights are SUPER-Space Marines who are VERY interested in your heretical Google image searches. They function as the military arm of the Ordo Malleus. In a galaxy and time where literal demons from space hell can punch through reality and turbo-slaughter whole sectors, the Grey Knights are THE final word in supernatural defense. This was especially important since for over 10,000 years, there WERE no good Primarches around to fight the blasphemous ascended being of the week. Every bit of armor, weapon, training and gear they have is top of the line, and nigh irreplaceable. When they fight, a psychic shroud inhibits the psychic powers of whoever they are fighting, and they have psychic Nemesis Force Wea<strike>'''OH CHRIST, I CAN'T GO ON, THIS SHIT IS BANANAS!'''</strike> {{BLAM|Ignore Matt Ward's bullshit, stop making shitty references to Zero Punctuation, and finish the damn article! Psychic Psychic Bendy Spoons.}} Aside from their anti-anti-anti Chaos gear, Grey Knights aren't typically who you send to stop a cult. They're the guys you send to clean up a Chaos defiled planet with boiling oceans, poisonous air, psychedelic skies, and more bones than living people on them. Grimdark. And yet, no Grey Knight has EVER fallen to Chaos. Which is [[awesome]].
* [[Officio Assassinorum]] - The coolest (and scariest) men and women in the Imperium. Whose job it is to kill people. While one would think this would overlap with the duties of every other Imperial organization, it is different because the Assassinorum trains spies and assassins to be more subtle, such as [[Tzeentch|manipulating people to do your dirty work while totally not aware you are behind it]]. Except when they train batshit insane [[Eversor]] Assassins. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a paradox. Leaving no survivors to tell the tale is [[Oinkbane|a subtlety all in itself]]. Grimdark.
* [[Sisters of Silence]] - The militant arm of the Astra Telepathica, they are all Blanks and refuse to speak but are deadly enough to take down any psyker threat and to travel with the likes of [[Leman Russ]] and the Custodes. As you can imagine they feature in some pretty badass artwork but sadly have very little work dedicated to them. It is unknown if they survived the end of the Great Crusade but there have been no indications to the contrary. Given that the Inquisition and Culexus Temple exist their role is partly redundant, but may be justified in that by being under the direct authority of the branch that deals with Psykers it allows a faster and more standardized way of handling Psykers, plus neither zealous assault forces or assassins would exactly fit the job description. Grimdark (?). With the return of Guilliman to the Imperium we now know that the sisters did indeed survive, although they were officially disbanded as a fighting force. Nothing like getting fired the day after your dad dies. Understandably upset, many simply wandered off into the sunset, but a large number stayed to crew the [[Black Ships]] that go around collecting psykers to feed to the Emperor. With Rawbutt Girlyman's return, the Emo Sisters have started to fight on the frontlines again, serving as anti-psyker defense and notably fighting alongside their best bros the Custodes for the first time in 10,000 years (maybe). Considering how bad [[grimdark|the state of the galaxy is]] due to the [[Great Rift]], their job has become wayyyyy busier than ever before.

===Other organizations===
* [[Administratum]] - The pencil pushers of the Imperium, complete with bureaucrats so devoted to their trade that they treat it like a religion, and massive inefficiency. They regulate the [[Imperial Guard]] and the [[Imperial Navy]], dictate and assess the Tithes all worlds in the Imperium are required to pay to Holy Terra, and administer how those things get used. Their archives are so big and so full that if you search anything in them, you'll die wrapped in endless layers of red tape, if you're not accompanied by an Adept. Grimdark.
* [[Ecclesiarchy]] - The Imperial Church which works with the Inquisition to regulate the worship of the Emperor and define what counts as '''HERESY'''. Basically priests with flamethrowers and mega-chainsaws. It also oversees the Sisters of Battle and the [[Schola Progenium]], and works closely with the [[Ordo Hereticus]]. Often has a complicated relationship with the other members branches of the Imperium (Space Marines insisting that the Emperor was a human, the Administratum for overall control of the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus worshiping a deity that ''should'' be the Emprah or not, etc.). Grimdark.
* [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] - The organization charged with maintaining the Imperium's vast network of [[psyker|psykers]], who are necessary for faster than light travel and keeping the Emperor alive on the Golden Throne. Their members are oftentimes forcibly conscripted children who have just barely survived being lynched on their homeworld, and were lucky enough not to be mulched into Emperor Food or Astronomicon fuel. Even so, the process to become a sanctioned psyker is physically and emotionally scaring, and can still lead to a grizzly death via headsplosion, possession, or just losing complete control of your sanity. Grimdark.
* [[Astronomican|Adeptus Astronomican]] - The organization charged with maintaining the light of the Astronomican, the psychic beacon for traveling through the [[Warp]]. Sacrifices assloads of psykers every day to keep the Astronomican running and literally the only thing keeping the entire Imperium from winking out like a candle. Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Knight]]s - The Imperial Knights are the lords of feudalistic worlds where the rulers and the military forces are one and the same, piloting massive combat mecha into battle to defend their worlds or to aid the Imperium. Usually have strong ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Grimdark.
* [[Squat]]s - A [[Dwarf|dwarfish]] race of technologically advanced [[abhuman]]s descended from mining colonists on high gravity planets, their worlds were the only other independent Imperial worlds besides Admech's forge worlds prior to integration into the Imperium from the Tyranids war. Their forces complemented that of the Adeptus Mechanicus' and the [[Imperial Guard]], with a tendency towards [[Colossus War Machine|giant-sized]] [[Land Train|war]] [[Goliath Mega-Cannon|machines]]. Their populations are now greatly diminished due to various reasons. Grimdark.

==Reasons it sucks to live in the Imperium==
{{heresy}}
{{Topquote|Call no man happy until he is dead.|Thought for the day. Also Aeschylus}}
[[File:Lord General.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Imperial Guard generals are some of the sexiest men alive, <s>and the worst part is that almost all of them are celibate</s> Lies, all lies!...On an unrelated note, this is one of [[Dawn of War 2#Imperial Guard|General Castors]] earlier designs.]]
* The High Lords of Terra are brutal and manipulative.
* The Adeptus Arbites make Judge Dredd seem reasonable.
* Thinking about nothing is the only way to survive. Unless you think about the steely musculature and long, shimmering hair of the Emperor.
* The Hive World you almost certainly live on is an overcrowded shithole where being able to breathe non-recycled air is a luxury.
* Thinking about nothing implies you're thinking, and thinking is '''HERESY'''.
* You are constantly under attack by Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, the forces of Chaos, Space Communists, etc.
* If you mutate, you will be at best shunned, but most likely killed, and even death is not the worst case scenario.
* Voices in your sleep keep telling you that Chaos is great, at which point an Inquisitor kills you whether you resist the temptations or not.
* Priests keep telling you the Imperium is great and then report you for not attending the entirety of your third mass service of the designated planetary worship day, at which point you are executed by local law enforcement.
* If you aren't in the Navy you are in the Imperial Guard, which means you will either die painfully on the battlefield or be executed by a Commissar for not being loyal enough to die on the battlefield. Seriously, many worlds hold your funeral the day before departure, people mourn your passing while you are standing next to them, and you are considered to be already dead.
* Your planetary governor is incompetent, ruthless, heretical or just very greedy (if you're lucky). Any that aren't are rarer than an Ork that doesn't WAAAAGH!, and either dead or about to be killed by one or more of the Imperium's enemies (or someone else from the Imperium).
* Even if you DO win the war via sheer hard-work, chances are that you are sterilized and shipped to a labor camp because you MIGHT have the taint of Chaos. And killed.
* Your whole life consists of working your ass off with no hope of social advancement. Unless you're a noble, in which case nothing in this list applies to you anyway.
* You can be executed for taking incorrect care of your gun and angering the Machine Spirit. And that assumes the Machine Spirit doesn't kill you first.
* Loyalist Space Marines never get laid, eve-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

* If you happen to be an Inquisitor, you are expected to watch whatever you order. Vomiting is '''HERESY'''.
* Technology scares you. Not much of a change, though is it?
* You are poor and uneducated. Isn't a change, either.
*If and when you die, the chances that anyone will ever give a shit about your death are nearly nonexistent. Again, nor much of a change there either.
* The Orks might eventually (re)unite and destroy the Imperium.
* The Necrons will eventually awaken and might destroy the Imperium.
* Chaos cannot be defeated and will probably destroy the Imperium sooner or later.
* Tyranids are pouring in from nearly all sides of the galaxy and will probably destroy the Imperium through the power of OMNOM.
* If you're not dead in the Guard, dead in the Navy, very dead in the PDF, or dead as a civilian, you're a heretic and alien-sympathizer. Therefore executed, and therefore dead.
* The Imperium routinely cleanses Xeno species. So if you're a wandering Eldar Craftworld or even a minor xenos race on a conquered planet expect no sympathy or even a quick death.
* Independence is nonexistent, and the Imperium has even destroyed two perfectly healthy, anti-chaos empires called Adrantis Five and Interex, granted the second one they destroyed thanks to Chaos bullshit, [[derp|whoops!]]
** The first was due to a mis-identification by over-eager Imperial Psychotic Killers, and given that the second was a civilization that had a race who created Chaos artifacts, including the big one that led to Horus' corruption, that's arguably a good thing since they might as well have been a ticking time bomb.
* Incompetence is also nonexistent, and if you show competence, you are imbued by the Chaos Gods and therefore executed for Heresy.
* Thinking ANY model is sexy is obvious heresy.
* And let's not even get started on what it's like if you're on the wrong side of the [[Great Rift]].
* Either you work, or you die. It's that simple. SO BACK TO THE MANUFACTORUMS AND STOP READING NOW!!!
**If by some shred of luck you don't get executed for dereliction of duty, then the lasgun you didn't make while slacking off meant that a Guard Regiment got equipped too late to be deployed to save your world.

==However, is the Imperium really ''that'' bad?==
[[File:8eb60203712e469761aeba78ec3c78ec-d7904b7.jpg|350px|thumb|left|Because the only way to keep a [[Roman Empire|stagnating empire]] alive is with excessive force (Ah, but where's the Roman Empire now?) Also, note the [[Imperator Titan|walking cathedral]] several miles in the background that's still bigger than the [[baneblade]] at the front.]]

{{Topquote|[[Noblebright|A line must be drawn between what is good and what is evil]], for if the [[Chaos|Great Enemy]] comes with offers of power to a wretch, what reason does he have to refuse hell if he dwells in it already?|[[Roboute Guilliman|Robu]] telling [[Dante|Luis]] the most obvious thing yet apparently missed for ten millennia of imperial history.}}

However, as said before, if you excuse GW's initial promotion that life in the Imperium must be "Tough and Dark", then average life in the Imperium for the common Joe is for all intents and purposes, uncomfortable and highly unpleasant, but ultimately tolerable for its people (as opposed to those of us in M3 who would likely lack the temperament or the constitution to do well in such a life). This can be further explained below....

===The Reality of the Imperium===
Throughout WH40K, nearly every-single grimdark example in the fluff is shown through the narrative perspective of either Space Marines and Inquisitors whose primary job is to fight against [[Chaos|WTF-Horror Eldritch Abominations]] and [[Orks|genocidal aliens]] for every single day of their lives, or of criminals, crooks and scum such as those living within the darkest pits in Hive Worlds like [[Necromunda]]. Of which, there are only about thirty-two thousand and something hundreds in ratio to the several hundreds of thousands of Civilized Worlds which are the planetary majority in the Imperium - the odds of being born in a desolated dump is actually quite low, and if you are born there, the only thing you need to be wary of are Gang fights and Mutants, and that's only if you are dumb enough to venture in the Underhive or unlucky enough to be born <s>poor</s> there (the poor can still get labor jobs in manufactoria or wherever else or enlist in the PDF and such; worlds are never lacking for jobs needing filling or soldiers to hold the fort). Life as a Middle-Class Imperial (which are the majority in Hive Worlds) is often plain and simple (if boring and repetitive) with your average wage, average working job and with your average necessities in life such as TV (level of propaganda vary) or food (might be artificially processed), and since there is always a demand for workers at some level, unemployment ratios would actually be quite small (unlike real-life, you don't have to fear automation and new technologies taking your job and the Imperium always needs more menial laborers). If you're in the Imperial Guard, the chances of being sent into an eternal meat grinder is actually quite slim, if the Imperium's size and speed is taken into perspective. Although some policies within the Imperium would be regarded as immoral or "Crimes Against Humanity" in today's world, take note that what the Imperium does is a necessary evil. They know what they're doing is morally questionable, but they have to do it since they have no other choice and in the grim setting of WH40K, this is the only solution to be dealt with for the betterment of Humanity as a whole. Unlike every single other being in the entire setting, the Imperium actually knows its necessary evils ''are'' evil and bemoans this fact but grits its teeth and does it anyway, determined to make sure what was done has meaning and was never in vain. This is why, outside of mainstream Sci-Fi where we see Aliens or some entities destroying a planet full of people for no other reason but for the [[Lulz|evulz]], in the Imperium, you see none of that, as in their point of view, to destroy a planet without a justified cause is seen as incredibly wasteful and sinful as you are technically "Wasting the Emperor's resources" (which, ironically enough, can lead to you getting executed,so its something most people try to avoid). There is even a small Ordo of the Inquisition whose job is to investigate exterminatus (planet boom) events and determine whether or not it was justified. About eighty percent of the Inquisitors who order exterminatus are executed by this Ordo for not having sufficient justification. Keep in mind that it is almost (''almost'') unheard of for exterminatus being declared unless really anyone even in the modern day could agree the planet totally needed to die.

The Imperium is also remarkably egalitarian. For the most part, regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you can reach unimaginable heights if you have the right combination of smarts, strength, faith and luck. Space Marine chapter masters were once feral tribesmen or underhive scum, great heroes of the Imperial Guard have come from death worlds, prisons or dead end jobs in hives. Inquisitors come from almost any background imaginable, and are some of the most powerful individuals in the Imperium, and can even sit as one of the High Lords of Terra. The only thing that actually blocks social mobility is the difficulty of standing out against countless trillion other humans on a million worlds. This is implied to be partially intentional as a way to get the very best of humanity in positions of power. By and large, it works. Incompetence is actually extremely rare in the Imperium (which is why it stands out so dramatically). Unfortunately, due to the scale of everything, an incompetent in the wrong place can cause a lot of disastrous effects.

===Foreign Policy on Xenos===
For those that complain of the Imperium's genocidal stance against Aliens (especially prior to the Emperor getting stuck on the golden throne), remember that during Humanitiy's earlier years, virtually every xeno they encountered were either genocidal dickheads or sadistic assholes, so can you really blame them? Take for example, the Craftworld Eldar. On the surface, they may seem benign and offer their hand in friendship, just so you are the ones who walk into a Necron Tomb-World and lose millions where they could have done the same and possibly only lost a few hundred. Regardless, this is easier said than done and they prioritize hostile races over occasional allies. Add to that, Big.E wanted an atheistic empire starving the Chaos gods out with science (although given that the Chaos gods thrive on ''emotion itself'' just as much as worship, Big E was probably doomed from the start) all without falling into '[[Men of Iron]] II: Revenge of the Machines', and those xenos that weren't deeply religious and/or psykers tended to go the A.I. way. So in order to avoid any [[Mortarion|unnecessary questions]] and [[Magnus the Red|unhealthy curiosity]], he basically got a standing order to purge everything on sight in place. Said order was duly followed during the Great Crusade proper, but now that the expansion is over, it is applied much less zealously.

Overall, the tolerance of xenos vary on their threat to Humanity in the first place, mostly since the Imperium does have not enough resources to even deal with those that possess an actual threat (hence why Ork Charadon and Sautekh Necron empires flourish, and no new crusades are sent to bring down the Tau, despite all three being almost next door to Ultramar). If the Imperium encounters another alien civilization that's only interested in trade and does not pose an obvious threat, then the Imperium (although still strictly supervised by the Inquisition) will trade to a certain extent, via [[Diplomacy]]. Put in the fact of the Imperium's "I don't disturb you and you don't disturb me" policy to outsiders, with the fact that there are actually '''A LOT''' of Xenos living within multiple Imperium Worlds contrary of popular opinion, and the fact that the majority of the wars that Humanity has fought was on the defense then the offense (of course this depends wholeheartedly on the Imperium's mood in the first place); you would then realize that on a whole, the Imperium is actually tolerant insofar as it doesn't destroy xenos races right away if they aren't an immediate threat.

An excellent way to understand the Imperium's policies toward aliens is seen in the [[The War of The Beast]] novel series, as it portrays some xenos-sympathizers and populations subjected to them. Ultimately, with threats like Chaos, genestealers, and countless other malevolent forces at large in the galaxy, the Imperium's intolerance is born of crucial necessity, with the xenophobia growing out of it as a by-product. The Imperium cannot afford to be accepting of alien influence and ideas, because you just never know what might be sneaking in with it, and they learned that through painful experience. What might be dismissed as innocent and inconsequential can (and often does) lead to the downfall of entire worlds. The only reason the Tau can act like they can openly befriend the whole galaxy is because they are naively unaware of all of what's out there and what they're potentially inviting in and run the risk of learning the same lessons the Imperium did the hard way. That much has been pointed out by both [[Farsight]] and [[Ciaphas Cain]]. Even with all the above, the Imperium is focused on survival above all else, and if that means working with xenos they may very well do so. [[Roboute Guilliman]] can testify to that, given that said xenos played a major role in his revival.

Besides all of this, the Imperium isn't going around just blamming every species even when it can for a simple reason: the Imperium is not evil. The Imperium is not a murderer, it is not insane, and it tries to be honorable as much as is feasible. Killing a species when it is unnecessary is murder and is definitely dishonorable. The Imperium is a civilization, and is as “civilized” as it can be in the reality it finds itself in. They hate all aliens, even those whom they have accepted as protectorates, allies, neutral, or simply "we live on the same planet, don't mess with us and we won't kill you". However, the Imperium understands the difference between understandable hatred and actually acting on that hatred against beings whose extermination is not necessary. Heck, there are plenty of people whoever is reading this might hate, but you don't go around kill them, do you? Exactly.

===Governmental & Ideological Structure of the Imperium===
Additionally, while the Imperium, as referenced above, looks like a merciless and oppressive empire, it is in fact a confederation of several powerful organizations and a million planets. It occupies a strange place in between libertarian paradise (as planets have a fair bit of autonomy, more than GW would like to admit) and oppressive theocracy, (as shown all over this page) as the Imperium's main policy for what a world does under their control is "Pay the tithe, send your psykers over when the Black Ships show up, and don't make me come over there." Each 'normal' planet in the Imperium (besides specially classified planets like Forge Worlds, Fortress Worlds, Death Worlds...) has its own laws, Government, culture and social order that can [[Attilan Rough Riders|differ]] [[Tallarn Desert Raiders|from]] [[Salamanders|one]] [[Ultramarines|another]] [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|by]] [[Vostroyan Firstborn|A]] [[Space Wolves|LOT.]] Just like today's countries some have merciless dictators (North Korea) and some have democracy to an extent where citizens can choose their own head of government (UK). Furthermore, each planet itself is actually quite independent to the extent where they can have their own armed forces and even wage their own civil wars. Due to this, the Imperium only cares when some serious shit happens (like xenos invasion, [[Chaos|corruption by Oh-God-What-The-Fuck eldritch horrors from beyond space and time]], or when a Planetary Governor decided to declare himself independent of the Imperium), and given that this is the Imperium, these kinds of things vary from "happening by on a regular basis" to "Not seeing an actual war for multiple millennia".

[[File:Tumblr nnrqjzAyKm1si96eio4 400.jpg|thumb|400px|right|A sprawling Imperial city. That ship's around two miles long, by the way. In Rogue Trader, anyway. In the novels more like ten to twenty.]]
Of course, in a few cases where a Planetary Governor or planet does declare independence, it is usually listed as [[HERESY]], however most Governors don't do this kind of thing because [[Chaos|they]] [[Necrons|know]] [[Orks|what's]] [[Dark Eldar|out]] [[Tyranids|there]] and that the Imperium is the only thing that [[Imperial Guard|can]] [[Space Marines|protect]] [[Imperial Navy|them]], because the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] and the system of the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] provides a cheap system of FTL and communication through the horrors of the [[Warp]], and because the Merchant Fleet enables intergalatic commerce. There is also the reason that they have so much autonomy already that there isn't really a reason to leave the Imperium other than sheer greed. It isn't like tithes are high anyway, so just greed and egomania. If a Planet declares independence, he loses the right to FTL and trade with the Imperium, and that's bad for Hive Worlds that need Agri-Worlds in order to survive, meaning the Imperium doesn't even ''need'' to send in their military since ''they'' know that the young usurper would most likely peacefully surrender in that prospect. The reason why the loyalty of some planets differ in question varied over the Imperium's history. During the Great Crusade, most worlds were extremely loyal to both the Imperium and the Emperor because it rescued them from all sorts of indescribable horrors that had plagued them for the thousands of years of the Long Night (Age of Strife). After the Great Crusade, the Imperium remained (mostly) cohesive as a whole due to both a remaining sense of loyalty to their savior and for mutual survival in the face of a severely fucked up galaxy. After a few thousand years of that, the Imperial Cult had gained sufficient strength that the reasons for remaining loyal to the Imperium and the Emperor expanded from just mutual survival to a shared religion where loyalty between each planet must be routinely checked to prevent separatism or [[Horus Heresy|another civil war that essentially kicked the Imperium in the galactic nuts.]] [[Derp|However, even then,]] [[Age of Apostasy|some religious asshat decides to do it all over again]] [[lulz|for the lulz,]] the aftermath of which persuaded some Planetary Rulers to question the legitimacy and thus loyalty to the Imperium. This is why you see that although most planets would never dare to even break away from the Imperium, a certain few that do break away is either due to the above questioning, your typical [[Just as Planned|Chaos hijinks]], xenos manipulation (as is frequently the case when the Tau or Genestealer Cults are involved), or just a Planetary Governor who's either arrogant enough to think he can get away with it or desperate enough to believe his world has nothing to lose from rebellion.

Therefore, the loyalty of most to the Imperium is not out of an ideological obsession to stamp out HERESY, but of pragmatism and necessity in order to survive in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium as Protectorates. This real-life perspective again, is then supported in WH40K where the Imperium, being a decentralized but powerful semi-autonomous group of Corporate entities, have different ways of pledging allegiance to the Emperor himself rather than the State: the Inquisition stamps out anyone caught separating from or perverting the Emperor's rule of conduct as Heresy, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] worships the Emperor as an aspect of another pagan Machine-god called the Omnissiah and benefits from an ancient pact of alliance dating to the Great Crusade, and the [[Adeptus Astartes]] are altered transhumans who merely view the Emperor as an exemplar of humanity, but were created by the Emperor himself and so can claim a closer connection to him than the other above-mentioned organizations via their genetic descent from the Primarchs. They all might just as well declare each other's ideologies as HERESY but each of them are personal Protectorate vassals to the Emperor himself, and both know that they need to work together lest Humanity as a whole goes extinct. Thus, as said multiple times before, the Imperium is not a centralized superstate, and more akin to a Coalition of Confederated Mini-Empires that's disguised as a Galactic Superpower (though the Imperium has its independent military and technological might with which to enforce its laws); or in real-life examples, the Imperium is more of a mixture between the "Protectorate" system like the Roman Empire, which allowed local governments to exist as Protectorates as long as they pay taxes and say that the Emperor is all "Good and Dandy", and today's UN which allows member nations to join while still keeping their national/cultural dignity, along with the Veto Powers between the founding members of China, US, Russia, France and Britain so they can keep each others powers in balance (Similar to the equal powers between the High-Lords of Terra).

Additionally, while chastity and prudence are technically heralded as virtues by [[Sisters of Battle|some]] organizations and planets within the Imperium, the Imperium as a whole is decidedly pro-sex. The reason is more utilitarian than [[Slaanesh|hedonistic]]; more babies means more soldiers. Even in the smallest sectors, there are always more planets to colonize (even if it's on the ruins of some other civilization) so space is seldom a concern. Imperial citizens are encouraged, by most local customs, to be fruitful so that the tithes may be paid. If you'd ask "why not just clone more soldiers?", the reason the Imperium doesn't do that (atleast excluding their black projects like the [[Afriel Strain]] soldiers) is because it's considered a perversion of the holy human form, hence it's labeled as heresy. Plus, attempting to clone regiments of soldiers on a rapid basis is likely to come with a variety of genetic problems that would hinder the Imperium rather than help it. Then there's the problem that the technology to clone a full human with a functioning mind (as opposed to a brain-dead clone fit for making into a servitor) is extremely difficult, to say nothing of how the clones' souls seem to be inherently abnormal for reasons nobody can explain.

And if anyone still complains that the Imperium is still 'dark and miserable,' just shove Stephen Baxter's [[Xeelee Sequence]] down their throats, portraying a human empire that is so downright evil and malicious that you will actually applaud their [[rape|cosmic butt-whipping]] by the nigh god-like Xeelee. Seriously, the Interim Coalition of Governance is what happens when the [[Marines Malevolent]] becomes a pan-galactic empire that has no qualms in sending over [[Grimdark|200 trillion child soldiers to die in a rather hopeless and pointless war;]] they make the policies of the Imperium [[Noblebright|look like the]] [[Star Trek|United Federation of Planets]] [[BrightHammer40k|in comparison.]]

===IoM in contrast to True Totalitarian Regimes===
Whilst it ''is'' true that the IoM combines many elements from all of the dictatorships on Earth, the key word you are looking for is elements. All of the dystopian tropes in the IoM are nitpicks from great dystopian classics. They aren't a true mixture of various authoritarian tropes, but are mere themes to set up the atmosphere of the Imperium. The presence of authoritarianism is there all right. However, it is not outright enforced; the Imperium doesn't care how your planet is run as long as the tithes come in on time and there's no outright heresy to be found. Imperial law focuses on best practices, security against subtle enemy attack methods, and anti-Chaos related manners of thinking (like a distinct lack of questioning the unknown because it could enter you and play havoc with your world). Basically, as long as you have laws that don't leave you wide open for the horrors in space, the Imperium is fine with you. And as mentioned before, the dystopian elements varies between planets to planets with the fact that you could actually ''leave'' the planet if given money and time. The reason why places like Oceania from [[1984]], North Korea, and the aforementioned Interim Coalition of Governance are terrifying is because they are actually true totalitarian governments with extremely nihilistic attitudes. These are totalitarian regimes done horrifyingly right. These are governments which pride themselves on their malevolence and power; in which an ordinary person has little to no chance of leaving the hell hole they are born into. Their governmental and ideological structure is done in such a way that the mere act of pragmatism will be condemned for [[Heresy|HERESY]]. Places like these are concentrated and true dystopias in which control is so absolute that you live in a personal prison for all eternity. These governments make the raging incompetence of the Imperium look like Fantasia. Furthermore, the Imperium has one thing these governments do not have: a sense of humanity and heroism. Throughout all the GW works on the Imperium, we have characters who show remarkable amounts of [[Sanguinius|selfless]] [[Ollanius Pius|heroism,]] [[Ciaphas Cain|courage,]] [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt|and]] [[Saint Celestine|intense]] [[Vulkan|humanity]]. The protagonists (and general "good guys") in these stories consistently try to move heaven and earth to [[Logan Grimnar|protect the weak]] against all odds. We almost never see that kind of optimistic effort in the aforementioned dystopian works. This is why [[1984]] and the [[Xeelee Sequence]] are so horrifying: there is no hope, no epic struggle, no grandeur... just a collapsing social reality where the very concept of humanity is treated like a nonexistent joke.

Essentially, what we are trying to say here is that the worst thing the Imperium can do is not out of malice, but out of desperation, incompetence and necessity. For example:

''"We are forced to commit exterminatus on a billion souls because we have no choice and the [[Chaos|alternative]] [[Xeno|outcome]] would be much worse. I pray that these innocent souls would meet peace with the Emperor.''

In contrast this with Oceania which go along the lines of:

''"We torture you not because of some politically motivated means or a necessary evil. We do so because we want to exercise our power. We do so because we can."''

Or the Interim Coalition of Governance:

''"We are ready to send over a untold number of kids to die against the Xeelee. Why you ask? Because it is more economically viable to protect our sweet, sweet moolah and we need something to cover up our deep insecurities and spite."''

The bottom line: the IoM embodies not perpetual evil and suffering for its own sake, but desperate measures taken in desperate times, exacerbated further by inefficiency and human error. It may be shit by our standards, but considering all the other alternatives that would actually stand a chance in the grim darkness of the far future, it's pretty clear the Imperium is the ''least horrible'' alternative for humanity.

In a way, this makes it worse than the full dystopias as those guys have no one but themselves to blame. The Imperium simply cannot afford anything better.

===Character development at meta level===

From a meta point of view the evolution of the Imperium reflects that of the franchise and the company's interest and capabilities, back in the 80s during the Rogue Trader GW writers didn't bother too much about the possible ramifications of their character profiles, they were after all doing things for kids which wanted something cool and funny; morality, rationale and introspection didn't really have that much of a priority, at best there was a lot of parody with a pinch of political commentary inherent in british pop culture.

As editions moved the Imperium went from a glam-coloured 80s feudal cyberpunk place for adventures, fun and profit to the stage were the "Grimdark" entered in full effect, think of it a bit like a child turning into a teenager who wants to sound cool a deep, edginess was the order of the day for the Third Edition, this is from where a lot of the dystopian stuff we all know and love came from, Battlefleet Gothic with their slave-powered ships is a great example, the original portrayal of the necrons as eldritch horrors directed by the C'tan are born from this edition too, it was the lowest point of characterization for the Imperium in terms of dark induced apathy.

Gradually, thanks in great part to the efforts of Black Library writers and the simple fact many fans were already adults who wanted something more "elaborate" the Imperium started to gain their humane elements, the Gaunt Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain put in evidence that no, not everyone in the Imperial Guard were zealots and jerkasses, Uriel Ventris and other SM portrayals allowed the Adeptus Astartes to win back their heroic aspect and while Matt Ward broke a lot of the old fluff he allowed for factions such as the Necrons to become something more than a horde of metallic zombies.

The case of commissar Cain is special, some people didn't like to consider him canon as he broke with the overall idea of grimdarkness, he starts as an anomaly, a secretly epicurean, self-loathing character capable of decent and even heroic acts as well as abject fear who visits worlds which suddenly are not hells on earth, through his eyes we see both military and civilians who are, despite the obvious and obligatory cultural dissonances, humans with their loves, hatreds, good intentions and limitations, enjoying life whenever they can and showing commodities and services which shouldn't exist in the grim darkness of the far future, this sudden injection of humanity shakes a great deal of the fanbase perception of the Imperium, they suddenly discover this galactic warring monster is quite more than a stage for endless dystopian war, suddenly imperials have a great deal more to fight for than debased ideology, they are fighting for survival, and that survival can allow for something more than slave-work at factories alternated with unending sermons, behind the facade of the fanatic and the mad you find reality ensues, ruthlessness with your own is a ticket for friendly fire incidents, even the staunchest sororitas has a pension to think of and the administratum is not totally filled of incompetent people.

Gaunt's Ghost work in tandem with Ciaphas Cain to add more humanity to the Imperium, the Tanith First and Only are people, they remember their world of forest and stone cities destroyed, they clearly see their memory as something worth fighting for, and while they are loyal to the Imperium they will notice when there is something unfair and, if possible, deal with it, even at terminal strength, while Colonel-Commissar may be in the minority of competent commanders he and other characters in HQ put in evidence you can't run a military force purely with lash and bolt-pistol, at least not totally, like many real-life regimes you still need a sandwich as well as a shotgun to deal with people, remove the sandwich, use the shotgun too much and you will eventually find the dog bitting back.

The Horus Heresy series helped too, as the origins of the Imperium were vastly expanded and explained, allowing for a better understanding of the choices taken by both loyalists and traitors, the Emperor in particular lost their portrayal of a perfect being and finally was revealed to be a more human character, with great inentions but ultimately flawed and capable of failure. This also allowed for a better understanding of how the Imperium became so religious, repressive and authoritian despite, or perhaps, because Big E original plans to fight the Chaos Gods by starving them, the primarchs background was further explored and the tragedy behind their fall became now a known narrative, all these aspects adding a "depth of field".

With the return of Guilliman in the last editions we finally come to a point where the Imperium as an entity recovers, or more exactly gains, its capability for self-criticism, and with it a gut-punching self-awareness, we see through Guilliman's eyes the vast gears of traditionalist government, the monumental historic inertia pushing things to the brink, the continuous and terrible technological, economic and social degradation mankind has been subjected for centuries fueled by terrible wars of extinction.

From such capability to see these flaws is that the desire to break with this unending cycle of darkness is born, for the first time we see the chance of reform not born from Tzeentchian influence or Xenos infiltration, stable (so far) technological advancement finally happens, the character of Belisarius Cawl comes to mind, he is certainly a maverick, his relation with Guilliman and his subordinates is interesting, he knows his own value and dares others on the Imperium's side in a way which reminds a bit of the oldest editions where Rogue Traders went to strange and extravagant adventures, but we also see his backstory, what eventually shaped in his current self, his manias and hopes, no longer just "the tech support guy who knows how to fix the server", but a person, someone who can go talk face to face with Guilliman.

And hence in the Imperium of this modern age ancient traditional powers find themselves checked, not to say this brave new messiah in blue is not without his limits and contradictions, more than once Guilliman has to recognize his own mistakes, and he is still blind to others, and some things he attempts don't end well, and while the situation has become more critical than ever since, perhaps, the Horus Heresy, the Imperium and characters such as his "Uncrowned King" as narrative entities finally recover their potential for the humane. The Imperium is still a place of unending war and misery, en epic saga with many elements of cosmic horror history, but with a glimpse of a path to, in words of Black Library "Salvation".

==Anthems of the Imperium of Man==
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duYoKxb0IeI - The anthem of the Imperium of the 41st Millennium.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM_c_avPlx4 - Battle anthem of the Adeptus Astartes

==See Also==
* [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)]], for their slightly less grimdark and '''much''' smaller scale alleged Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Skaven|The Underempire]] for their ''actual'' Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Azyr]] for their [[noblebright]] [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]] counterpart.

==Summary==
[[grimdark|In the grim dark future of the 41st Millennium, there is only bleak, grim, black, hopeless, dismal, barren, gloomy, gray, joyless, dour, dreary, dark, cheerless, glum, oppressive, somber, grim darkness. And the sugar beet/cane is extinct.]]
[[File:DAoT.jpg|580px|center|thumb|What the Imperium would likely look like if the Mechanicus ever decided to get their head out of their collective ass. Except there would be skulls and gothic architecture everywhere (which is automatically superior in every way to stupid shiny smooth shit).]]
[[File:1342123121.jpg|580px|center|thumb|Ah, much better...]]

==External Link==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MeVxKZBOfM The history of the Imperium in about a minute and a half.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUrSQNSN6_c The Story of the Imperium in a musical piece] - [[Great Crusade|Slow start that]] [[Horus Heresy|soon erupts into allout badassery]] [[Time of Ending|and is quenched in a desperate last stand against the mighiest threats,]] [[Grimdark|before it flickers and dies...]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHSvSZ-UEFc An (arguably) more optimistic but no less brutal take on the eternal Imperium and its history. Times of majesty, times of destruction, times of glory, times of despair, they all alternate and repeat with the one endless constant of war.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csu6vbWA-YQ A new song to herald the trying time of the Imperium] - [[Black Crusade|A slow, malevolent start]] [[Great Rift|to capture the spread of evil]] [[Cadia|over the closest thing to good in the universe]] [[Belisarius Cawl|followed by]] [[Saint Celestine|faint whispers of]] [[Roboute Guilliman| hope]] [[Indomitus Crusade|that erupts in an enormous cresendo,]] [[grimdark|before fading with a quiet whine.]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1CQ7Vwz8Eo the Imperium of man's theme song, less serious, more accurate perhaps.]

{{Imperium}}
{{Template:40k-Governments}}
[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

The Imperium of Man

2020-06-13T04:13:41Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: Undo revision 664257 by 2601:197:B7F:E0C0:ECC6:61A0:1FBE:AF39 (talk)

{{Infobox 40k Nations
|name=Imperium of Man
|image=[[Image:Imperium_Flag.jpg ‎|300px|center]]
|Capital=[[Holy Terra]]
|Official Languages= High Gothic (aka Latin), Low Gothic (aka English/French/German/Italian/Russian/Chinese/Literally Every Language) and its countless dialects, Binary and billions of minor and local languages
|Power=Galactic Superpower
|Size=Galactic but stretched thin More than 1 million to 10 million planets
|Head of State=[[Emperor of Mankind]]
|Head of Government=[[Roboute Guilliman|Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman]], [[High Lords of Terra]], [[Dante|Lord Regent of Imperium Nihilus Dante]]
|Governmental Structure=Unitary Atheistic Authoritarian Absolute Monarchy (''Great Crusade'') Feudal Totalitarian Theocratic Dictatorship (''Age of Apostasy'') Feudal Theocratic Authoritarian Confederated Oligarchy (''41st Millennium'') Unitary Authoritarian Semi-Theocratic Confederation (''42nd Millennium'')
|State Religion/Ideology=[[Imperial Truth|State Atheism]] (''Great Crusade'') [[Imperial Cult]] (''32nd Millennium onward'')
|Demographic=[[Humans]], [[Abhuman|Abhumans]], minor [[Xenos]] races, assorted Transhumans
|Military Force=[[Imperial Guard]], [[Space Marines]], [[Militarum Tempestus]], [[Sisters of Battle]], [[Inquisition]], [[Planetary Defense Force]]
}}
{{Topquote|What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?|Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2}}
{{Topquote|Great empires are not maintained by timidity.|Tacitus}}
{{Topquote|This bloated, rotten carcass of an empire is driven not by reason and hope, but by fear, hate and ignorance.|[[Roboute Guilliman]], who is [[Butthurt|not pleased]] by the [[Grimdark|actual state]] of the Imperium}}
[[File:Imperial Aquila.jpg|thumb|300px|left|The Aquila, the symbol of the Imperium and personal heraldry of the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]]. Failing to show proper reverence to the Aquila is [[heresy]] punishable by *BLAM*ing. The two heads represent looking towards the future while being [[Imperial Truth|blind towards the mistakes of the past]], while the two heads and differing feet represent the Terra-Mars alliance.]]
The '''Imperium of Man''' (Lat.: '''IMPERIVM HVMANVM''' or '''IMPERIVM HOMINIS''') is a gigantic, galaxy-spanning Civilization (to give you an idea of how truly massive this empire is, the most conservative estimates place its population at four quadrillion. Estimates that take into account the huge number of what are essentially [[Hive|cramped apartment-building planets]]? Now we're talking upwards of FORTY quadrillion. Oh, and this is not counting planets they have lost track of due to various heresies and other catastrophies, not to mention the general incompetence of those [[Administratum|blasted pencil-push]]{{BLAM}}) that contains the vast majority of humanity in the tabletop game ''[[Warhammer 40K]]''. It is often stereotyped in popular media as a xenophobic, amoral, gargantuan, militaristic, merciless, stratified, theocratic, [[Paranoia|paranoid, dystopian, totalitarian]], semi-police state and hellishly oligarchical bureaucracy. Why this is called 'stereotypical' to begin with is questionable though since it's absolutely fucking true{{BLAM}} Think of a hideous amalgamation of the [[Roman Empire]] including Byzantine Era with its sheer amount of scheming and administrative stupidity, pre-Reformation Catholic Church, [[Nazi|Nazi Germany]], Imperial Japan, Soviet Russia and George Orwell's ''[[1984]]'' spread out across the stars, under constant attack by aliens and subject to countless [[Chaos|disasters]] everyday. Add in the fanatical worship of a [[Emperor|dead dictator]] and it's basically North Korea IN SPEHSS (but somehow fucking works).

However, this is what [[GW]] ''wants you to think''; in all retrospective outside of the popular perspective, the Imperium of Man can actually be a pretty nice place to live depending on where you actually live... although GW description does apply to Death Worlds, some Hive Worlds and the Imperium as a whole. Sure, there are shit-holes like Catachan, but because of its size and extreme variety, you also have a higher chance of being born in places that shits all over any modern developed country and may even be led by people better than Gandhi. While it's plausible that atrocities happen all the time in the Imperium, given its size, that doesn't mean that everyone is always doomed. Unfortunately Games Workshop decided to ignore this aspect since it is not [[Derp|metal and grimderp]] enough...and thus does not help with [[Profit|sales]].

Almost everything 40K related and homebrewed on this website is a sterling example of /tg/ taking creative liberties with what the Imperium stands for. These include, but are not limited to, the [[Angry Marines]], [[Commissar Raege]], [[Commissar Fuklaw]], [[Pretty Marines]], [[Reasonable Marines]]... Truly, anonymous delivers!

==Synopsis==
[[File:Iron Men 40k.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The [[Iron Men]] are credited with fucking humanity right over, just like the [[Old Ones]] did with the rest of the galaxy's inhabitants.]]
The Imperium consists of over a million habitable worlds and is of such size that the loss of a few dozen planets (along with billions of citizens) is not even worth the paperwork it would take to declare said worlds Perdatus. Under constant threat and attack by a myriad of powerful alien races and traitorous forces, the Imperium is engulfed in a constant galaxy-spanning war. The everyday rule of the Imperium is left to the [[High Lords of Terra]], who basically don't give a fuck about anybody and have no clue what the hell they're doing half of the time.

The figurehead and subject of compulsory religious veneration, the immortal [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] forged the Imperium out of the [[Age of Strife]]. Being physically fucked for the past 10,000 years, he sits immobile and connected to the Golden Throne far from the sight of his subjects, witnessed his formerly [[Star Trek|glorious utopia of science and reason]] drop 99.9% of its IQ points against his will, and requires the sacrifice of many psykers a day to keep him alive, though this hasn't prevented his body from decomposing (he still has some fleshy bits left) and now looks like a mummy without the wrappings. [[Heresy]] is the greatest crime one can commit in the Imperium, the punishment for which is a painful death or torture followed by a painful death. Technology is barely understood and basically mythological, and even the Techpriests are afraid of their machines (this aspect of the Techpriests has been lessened over the years, now they're more like spiritualistic and very dogmatic scientists rather than technowizards.)

[[Image:Forbidden_Love.jpg|thumb|right|This would never happen. Ever. At least, not where anyone could see it.]]
The Imperium is also one of the biggest entities in the 40k universe, like a fatguy that hogs half the couch for himself and forces the others to sit on the arm rests. Some fa/tg/uys theorize that if the Imperium falls it may take the rest of the galaxy with it, as it holds so much territory that it staves off the Tyranids and the Orks before they can nom/loot everyone else's shit. (e.g. Dawn of War II, Spess Mahreens nuke the Tyranid fleet before they can nom an Eldar Craftworld.)

It's now a complete shithole and is not even remotely close to the Emperor's vision for humanity. Reasons for this include the Imperium's leaders being heartless fuckwads and the necessity of such an uncaring organization for the survival of humanity in a galaxy that wants to kill them in a million painful ways.

That's fucking grimdark, but at least there's Slaanesh to lighten everything u-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an approved author. +}}

Well, honestly, Nurgle is at least a pretty nice gu-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Well, at least we have Tzee-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Kho-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. ++ And for fucks sake please stop mentioning the cha--}}
{{BLAM}}

===Roboute Guilliman in M42===
With the events of Gathering Storm and the Dark Imperium, the awakening of [[Roboute Guilliman|Big Blue Wonder]] ushered sweeping changes within the governmental ruling of the Imperium. Roboute's self coronation as Lord Commander (His old job) and political reforms that meant the firing of some High Lords of Terra meant that the IoM is becoming more centralized like it was during the Great Crusade.

Of course, centralization means a more authoritarian Imperium. Nevertheless, Guilliman is the best living person to be given the responsibility in fixing the bureaucratic nightmare of the Imperium, so there is little reason to panic. One of the biggest reasons the vast majority of the Imperial Guard spends entire careers fighting rebelling worlds instead of humanity’s enemies is because each planet is highly autonomous and their governments simply blame the Imperium for the hardships caused by the greed of those worlds’ nobles and governors. So, an Imperium with greater authority and control over its worlds would increase efficiency and effectiveness of planetary governments in the Imperium’s usual inefficient methods; then the eighty percent of Imperial Guard forces fighting rebels can go banhammer aliens and daemons instead. Some (including the High Lords themselves, to the surprise of nobody) consider Roboute's rule as a dictatorship (not like they can honestly stop him since he has a blood claim to the throne and effectively controls all Space Marines and Custodes), but the reality is that whilst the Imperium is centralizing in a manner akin to how it was in the Great Crusade, certain political entities such as the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition still holds significant clout and influence over the Imperium. With Guilliman currently updating his new Codex Imperialis for good governance and ruling, it is safe to say that the quality of life for the Imperium would be slowly improving. Of course, the vastness and sheer diversity of the IoM combined with the unwillingness of the above-mentioned political entities to accept reform means that the actual results are ''far'' more complicated than this. Nonetheless, the very fact that Guilliman's rule is actively trying to improve the Imperium with mixed results shows that the Imperium unlike traditional oppressive regimes, still have a chance for the better. It would still be the Imperium we know and love, but it would be far more efficient and competent, since efficiency and competency was the biggest crutch on why the Imperium is in such a dire situation. Resistance to Guilliman’s reforms would most likely be met by a visit from loyal Inquisitors and the Inquisitor’s who plot against his reforms would probably be vanished by Raven Guard sent by Guilliman. Anyone in the way of his plans would simply...disappear or end up mysteriously dead. Primarchs are not known for taking shit. Or for accepting “no” as an answer to their orders.

Furthermore, it seems that the jingoistic foreign policy of the Imperium towards xenos for 10,000 years has relaxed slightly in favor of pragmatism on Robby's part, most exemplified by the current alliance of convenience between the Imperium and the Ynnari (It's hard to say exactly how sincere the relationship ''is''; Guilliman himself noted that the Ynnari could be respected but not necessarily trusted, and the [[Visarch]] has voiced criticism of [[Yvraine]] acting as a "lapdog of the Imperium", so while they're not fighting each other they can hardly be called the best of friends). However, it has been suggested that Big Bobby G and Yvraine are totally hot for each other and want to have crazy butt-s...OH NOT AGAIN! {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|HERESY!}} It could also be due to [[Great Rift|the giant Warp scar]] spawned from Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade and how Chaos is now a bigger threat to the Imperium than ever. G-man also appointed [[Dante]] as warden to administer the other half of the Imperium across the Great Rift.

==Forces Of The Imperium==
* [[Adeptus Custodes]] - The Emperor's personal bodyguards who make ''Space Marines'' look like ordinary men. Their armour has so much bling it makes even the most pimptastic Space Marine's Artificer Armour look cheap. Their modification and training, not to mention the loss of the Emperor, robbed most of them of empathy and the ability to form connections with other people (even each other), as the only being they trusted absolutely is now stuck between life and death. Others are quite reasonable guys, and after 10,000 years on the bench, and a minor deamon invasion of Holy Terra, they're back in the game in a big way. Anyway, they go to insane lengths and cross any moral line to ensure His safety, and are now going forth on Crusade to help guard humanity as a whole from unending terror. Grimdark.
* [[Space Marines]] - The enhanced, power armored supersoldiers who form the elite warriors of the Imperium. All they do is train, sleep, pray, fight, and die; and they love every second of it (being the loyal warrior monks they are). There are only a million of them, but since the Imperium only has about a million planets it kind of evens out. They are no longer human, and remember nothing but an endless service of bloodshed culminating in their own violent deaths. Grimdark.
[[Image:Guardsmen_fighting.jpg|thumb|right|Die horribly or Join the Guard and THEN die horribly. At least that way you'll get a sweet-looking [[Lasgun|flashlight]].]]
* [[Imperial Guard]] - The countless quadrillions of regular humans who form the vast majority of the Imperium's armed forces. Very similar to a conventional modern military, they are a bunch of manly farmers and factory workers fighting off [[Necrons|unstoppable robots with guns that completely rip their skin off]], [[Tyranids|huge monstrous aliens who want to OM NOM NOM everything]], [[Chaos Space Marines|batshit insane super humans who want to kill everyone in painful ways and sacrifice their victims' souls while doing it]], [[Orks|barbaric aliens who are made for FIGHTAN AND WINNIN']], [[Eldar|mysterious spehss pansies who don't give a shit about anyone else]], [[Dark Eldar|spehss elves who wants to torture and rape them with the worst forms of BDSM]], [[Tau|Orwellian weeaboo space communists]], or [[Rak'gol|obscure but brutal spider Cthulhu reptiles that like to rip your intestines out before stealing all your stuff]], with little more than a [[Lasgun|flashlight]], [[Tallarn Desert Raiders|reinforced cardboard]], [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|standard-issue chest-hair]] and [[Cadia|BALLS O' STEEL]]. Or that's what you might be led to believe: a big part of the Imperium's wars are fought against fellow humans (or [[Lost and the Damned|things that once were human]]) but decided they had enough of being crapped upon by greedy superiors and uncaring leaders. Selfishly ignoring the fact the Imperium has no problem with them overthrowing said greedy superiors and uncaring leaders so long as Imperial law, taxes, and tithes are obeyed. But no, that would mean admitting their own cowardice was their own fault, so they rebel against "the man" instead and "the man" curbstomps them in the face for it. Most Imperial Guardsmen are conscripted every now and then from the best Planetary Defence Force troopers on a given world. Some planets supplement this supply with prisoners, while others give over their entire population to the Imperium as their tithe, the birth rate equaling the recruitment rate. Most die or muster out and they will never again see home, unless they're fighting on it. [[Grimdark]].
[[Image:Magos_Explorator_Delphan_Gruss.jpg|thumb|right|Combat Dentists, the Mechanicum's leading specialists on tooth heresy.]]
* [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] - An organization of Tech-priests. They have a monopoly over all Imperial technology from giant mecha to cybernetics, and almost everyone else in the Imperium is afraid of their machines. As a result, the Admech has to loan their techpriests to other organizations in the form of Enginseers, though for Space Marines it's more a work study program as they'll send one of their own troops to become a Techmarine. Independent scientists also exist, but only as long as they don't get killed for [[heresy]] or stay below the Mechanicus radar. Once these independents get powerful or competent enough to make a difference, they get wiped out or absorbed into Cult Mechanicus. Includes [[Adeptus Titanicus]]‎, [[Legio Cybernetica]] (Insidious Death Robotics, Inc), Centurio [[Ordinatus]] (look at name, figure it out), [[Skitarii]] (basically Imperial Guard of the Mechanicus), Auxilia [[Myrmidon]] (tech-priest war savants, stuff of nightmares), and the Ordo Reductor (siege specialists, infamous for ripping off the Space Marines by making the [[Thallax]]). Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Navy]] - Job is pretty self-explanatory, they split with the Guard after the Horus Heresy. They are a very large organization, as you would expect from a navy tasked with protecting a million worlds. Their ships range in size from meters-long fighters to kilometers-long battleships which are quite capable of [[Exterminatus|blowing up planets]], mostly Imperial ones, which they do at the command of the Inquisition on a regular basis in the fight against '''HERESY'''. Because Humanity was ass-raped by AI 15,000 years ago, the Imperial Navy uses huge human crews, most of which are "recruited" (i.e. Shanghaied) to die in space as one of billions of expendable men. Grimderp, considering not even some hydraulic lifters are employed when reloading even though the rest of the ship is high tech.
* [[Adeptus Arbites]] - These guys police every world in the Imperium. They're like [[Judge Dredd]] but more Grimdark. Arbites are usually one of the first institutions to be set up on a world and are equipped to fight a small war, with equipment ranging from power mauls and suppression shields to lasguns and even the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]]. On the ground the Arbites have four units: Patrol Groups, whose job it is to make sure no wrongdoing occurs in the settlement; Shock Troops who are sent in when there are riots, street wars and other generalized disturbances (they usually shoot on sight if you are anywhere near the problem center); Execution Teams who pursue specific guilty individuals or groups; and Snatch Squads who are charged with capturing a specific individual or group for questioning. The criminals caught by the Arbites usually wind up dead [[Blam|one way]] [[Penal legion|or another]]. The Inquisition often uses the Arbites to apprehend certain individuals if they do not wish to be directly involved. Grimdark.
* [[Inquisition]] - The KGB of the Imperium. Their job is to keep said Imperium secure and loyal. With jurisdiction over nearly anyone and anything, the Inquisitors and their agents have very few impediments on their endless quest to contain heresy. The Inquisition consists of three main branches: the Ordo Hereticus, who's duty is to eliminate or contain threats such as '''HERESY''', mutants, and traitors; the Ordo Xenos, who specialize in destruction of alien threats, and the Ordo Malleus who are called on to stop Daemonic incursions. If they do their job poorly, entire worlds get destroyed based on the barest rumors. Alternatively, if they do their jobs well, those worlds still get destroyed because there are no other alternatives to stop the many genocidal threats the Imperium faces. Also, nobody expects them. Grimdark.
[[Image:Pimpin_Imperium.png|thumb|right|The Inquisition: not as easy as it looks.]]
* [[Sisters of Battle]] - The [[Ecclesiarchy|Ecclesiarchy's]] army, the nuns-with-guns or bolter bitches. Originally, they were an isolated all-female cult on a backwater world, and subsequently became the personal army of [[Goge Vandire]] during his fab [[Age of Apostasy|Age of Apostasy]]. After that blew over, they came into their current role through some top-notch [[rules lawyers|rules lawyering]]- after the Age of Apostasy, the Ecclesiarchy was only barred from having ''men'' under arms, so the Sisters weren't disbanded. They are trained from early age (because they are picked up as orphans) and in the end they become one of the best fighting troops of the Imperium, second only to the Astartes themselves. Their faith is so great that even Grey Knights are jealous of it. [[/tg/]] likes to see Sisters in different heretical fantasies, often involving [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh]], [[Shlicktau|female Tau]] and [[The wet dream of selena agna|Eldar Farseers]]. But what the poor bastards don't know is that the Sisters are all into [[FAIL|celibacy]] (though some lore says otherwise), love only the Emperor (sometimes it's a damn shame), and are so zealous and fanatical that they would turn off just about any human man anyway. Armed with their trusty Bolters, Meltaguns and Flamers (The Holy Trinity of weaponry as far as they're concerned), they go around the galaxy and kick Chaos/Renegades/Xenos ass as much as they can. Grimdark.
* [[Deathwatch]] - If you're an especially skilled Space Marine, or if your chapter just wants to get rid of you, the Deathwatch is always looking for new recruits to train into even more hyper-efficient xenos-killing machines. Acting on behalf of the Ordo Xenos, recruits get hypno-indoctrinated with endless videos of battle brothers getting slaughtered by all manner of xenos until they become frothing angry and need to be physically restrained. Instead of organizing into large task forces, the Deathwatch fights in small special-forces killteams to complete specific objectives and kick ass. Some of its members deliberately obscure or renounce their past ties and become [[Blackshield]]s, permanently joining the Deathwatch until death claims them. Grimdark.
* [[Grey Knights]] - You thought Space Marines were bad dudes? Well loyal citizen, Grey Knights are SUPER-Space Marines who are VERY interested in your heretical Google image searches. They function as the military arm of the Ordo Malleus. In a galaxy and time where literal demons from space hell can punch through reality and turbo-slaughter whole sectors, the Grey Knights are THE final word in supernatural defense. This was especially important since for over 10,000 years, there WERE no good Primarches around to fight the blasphemous ascended being of the week. Every bit of armor, weapon, training and gear they have is top of the line, and nigh irreplaceable. When they fight, a psychic shroud inhibits the psychic powers of whoever they are fighting, and they have psychic Nemesis Force Wea<strike>'''OH CHRIST, I CAN'T GO ON, THIS SHIT IS BANANAS!'''</strike> {{BLAM|Ignore Matt Ward's bullshit, stop making shitty references to Zero Punctuation, and finish the damn article! Psychic Psychic Bendy Spoons.}} Aside from their anti-anti-anti Chaos gear, Grey Knights aren't typically who you send to stop a cult. They're the guys you send to clean up a Chaos defiled planet with boiling oceans, poisonous air, psychedelic skies, and more bones than living people on them. Grimdark. And yet, no Grey Knight has EVER fallen to Chaos. Which is [[awesome]].
* [[Officio Assassinorum]] - The coolest (and scariest) men and women in the Imperium. Whose job it is to kill people. While one would think this would overlap with the duties of every other Imperial organization, it is different because the Assassinorum trains spies and assassins to be more subtle, such as [[Tzeentch|manipulating people to do your dirty work while totally not aware you are behind it]]. Except when they train batshit insane [[Eversor]] Assassins. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a paradox. Leaving no survivors to tell the tale is [[Oinkbane|a subtlety all in itself]]. Grimdark.
* [[Sisters of Silence]] - The militant arm of the Astra Telepathica, they are all Blanks and refuse to speak but are deadly enough to take down any psyker threat and to travel with the likes of [[Leman Russ]] and the Custodes. As you can imagine they feature in some pretty badass artwork but sadly have very little work dedicated to them. It is unknown if they survived the end of the Great Crusade but there have been no indications to the contrary. Given that the Inquisition and Culexus Temple exist their role is partly redundant, but may be justified in that by being under the direct authority of the branch that deals with Psykers it allows a faster and more standardized way of handling Psykers, plus neither zealous assault forces or assassins would exactly fit the job description. Grimdark (?). With the return of Guilliman to the Imperium we now know that the sisters did indeed survive, although they were officially disbanded as a fighting force. Nothing like getting fired the day after your dad dies. Understandably upset, many simply wandered off into the sunset, but a large number stayed to crew the [[Black Ships]] that go around collecting psykers to feed to the Emperor. With Rawbutt Girlyman's return, the Emo Sisters have started to fight on the frontlines again, serving as anti-psyker defense and notably fighting alongside their best bros the Custodes for the first time in 10,000 years (maybe). Considering how bad [[grimdark|the state of the galaxy is]] due to the [[Great Rift]], their job has become wayyyyy busier than ever before.

===Other organizations===
* [[Administratum]] - The pencil pushers of the Imperium, complete with bureaucrats so devoted to their trade that they treat it like a religion, and massive inefficiency. They regulate the [[Imperial Guard]] and the [[Imperial Navy]], dictate and assess the Tithes all worlds in the Imperium are required to pay to Holy Terra, and administer how those things get used. Their archives are so big and so full that if you search anything in them, you'll die wrapped in endless layers of red tape, if you're not accompanied by an Adept. Grimdark.
* [[Ecclesiarchy]] - The Imperial Church which works with the Inquisition to regulate the worship of the Emperor and define what counts as '''HERESY'''. Basically priests with flamethrowers and mega-chainsaws. It also oversees the Sisters of Battle and the [[Schola Progenium]], and works closely with the [[Ordo Hereticus]]. Often has a complicated relationship with the other members branches of the Imperium (Space Marines insisting that the Emperor was a human, the Administratum for overall control of the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus worshiping a deity that ''should'' be the Emprah or not, etc.). Grimdark.
* [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] - The organization charged with maintaining the Imperium's vast network of [[psyker|psykers]], who are necessary for faster than light travel and keeping the Emperor alive on the Golden Throne. Their members are oftentimes forcibly conscripted children who have just barely survived being lynched on their homeworld, and were lucky enough not to be mulched into Emperor Food or Astronomicon fuel. Even so, the process to become a sanctioned psyker is physically and emotionally scaring, and can still lead to a grizzly death via headsplosion, possession, or just losing complete control of your sanity. Grimdark.
* [[Astronomican|Adeptus Astronomican]] - The organization charged with maintaining the light of the Astronomican, the psychic beacon for traveling through the [[Warp]]. Sacrifices assloads of psykers every day to keep the Astronomican running and literally the only thing keeping the entire Imperium from winking out like a candle. Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Knight]]s - The Imperial Knights are the lords of feudalistic worlds where the rulers and the military forces are one and the same, piloting massive combat mecha into battle to defend their worlds or to aid the Imperium. Usually have strong ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Grimdark.
* [[Squat]]s - A [[Dwarf|dwarfish]] race of technologically advanced [[abhuman]]s descended from mining colonists on high gravity planets, their worlds were the only other independent Imperial worlds besides Admech's forge worlds prior to integration into the Imperium from the Tyranids war. Their forces complemented that of the Adeptus Mechanicus' and the [[Imperial Guard]], with a tendency towards [[Colossus War Machine|giant-sized]] [[Land Train|war]] [[Goliath Mega-Cannon|machines]]. Their populations are now greatly diminished due to various reasons. Grimdark.

==Reasons it sucks to live in the Imperium==
{{heresy}}
{{Topquote|Call no man happy until he is dead.|Thought for the day. Also Aeschylus}}
[[File:Lord General.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Imperial Guard generals are some of the sexiest men alive, <s>and the worst part is that almost all of them are celibate</s> Lies, all lies!...On an unrelated note, this is one of [[Dawn of War 2#Imperial Guard|General Castors]] earlier designs.]]
* The High Lords of Terra are brutal and manipulative.
* The Adeptus Arbites make Judge Dredd seem reasonable.
* Thinking about nothing is the only way to survive. Unless you think about the steely musculature and long, shimmering hair of the Emperor.
* The Hive World you almost certainly live on is an overcrowded shithole where being able to breathe non-recycled air is a luxury.
* Thinking about nothing implies you're thinking, and thinking is '''HERESY'''.
* You are constantly under attack by Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, the forces of Chaos, Space Communists, etc.
* If you mutate, you will be at best shunned, but most likely killed, and even death is not the worst case scenario.
* Voices in your sleep keep telling you that Chaos is great, at which point an Inquisitor kills you whether you resist the temptations or not.
* Priests keep telling you the Imperium is great and then report you for not attending the entirety of your third mass service of the designated planetary worship day, at which point you are executed by local law enforcement.
* If you aren't in the Navy you are in the Imperial Guard, which means you will either die painfully on the battlefield or be executed by a Commissar for not being loyal enough to die on the battlefield. Seriously, many worlds hold your funeral the day before departure, people mourn your passing while you are standing next to them, and you are considered to be already dead.
* Your planetary governor is incompetent, ruthless, heretical or just very greedy (if you're lucky). Any that aren't are rarer than an Ork that doesn't WAAAAGH!, and either dead or about to be killed by one or more of the Imperium's enemies (or someone else from the Imperium).
* Even if you DO win the war via sheer hard-work, chances are that you are sterilized and shipped to a labor camp because you MIGHT have the taint of Chaos. And killed.
* Your whole life consists of working your ass off with no hope of social advancement. Unless you're a noble, in which case nothing in this list applies to you anyway.
* You can be executed for taking incorrect care of your gun and angering the Machine Spirit. And that assumes the Machine Spirit doesn't kill you first.
* Loyalist Space Marines never get laid, eve-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

* If you happen to be an Inquisitor, you are expected to watch whatever you order. Vomiting is '''HERESY'''.
* Technology scares you. Not much of a change, though is it?
* You are poor and uneducated. Isn't a change, either.
*If and when you die, the chances that anyone will ever give a shit about your death are nearly nonexistent. Again, nor much of a change there either.
* The Orks might eventually (re)unite and destroy the Imperium.
* The Necrons will eventually awaken and might destroy the Imperium.
* Chaos cannot be defeated and will probably destroy the Imperium sooner or later.
* Tyranids are pouring in from nearly all sides of the galaxy and will probably destroy the Imperium through the power of OMNOM.
* If you're not dead in the Guard, dead in the Navy, very dead in the PDF, or dead as a civilian, you're a heretic and alien-sympathizer. Therefore executed, and therefore dead.
* The Imperium routinely cleanses Xeno species. So if you're a wandering Eldar Craftworld or even a minor xenos race on a conquered planet expect no sympathy or even a quick death.
* Independence is nonexistent, and the Imperium has even destroyed two perfectly healthy, anti-chaos empires called Adrantis Five and Interex, granted the second one they destroyed thanks to Chaos bullshit, [[derp|whoops!]]
** The first was due to a mis-identification by over-eager Imperial Psychotic Killers, and given that the second was a civilization that had a race who created Chaos artifacts, including the big one that led to Horus' corruption, that's arguably a good thing since they might as well have been a ticking time bomb.
* Incompetence is also nonexistent, and if you show competence, you are imbued by the Chaos Gods and therefore executed for Heresy.
* Thinking ANY model is sexy is obvious heresy.
* And let's not even get started on what it's like if you're on the wrong side of the [[Great Rift]].
* Either you work, or you die. It's that simple. SO BACK TO THE MANUFACTORUMS AND STOP READING NOW!!!
**If by some shred of luck you don't get executed for dereliction of duty, then the lasgun you didn't make while slacking off meant that a Guard Regiment got equipped too late to be deployed to save your world.

==However, is the Imperium really ''that'' bad?==
[[File:8eb60203712e469761aeba78ec3c78ec-d7904b7.jpg|350px|thumb|left|Because the only way to keep a [[Roman Empire|stagnating empire]] alive is with excessive force (Ah, but where's the Roman Empire now?) Also, note the [[Imperator Titan|walking cathedral]] several miles in the background that's still bigger than the [[baneblade]] at the front.]]

{{Topquote|[[Noblebright|A line must be drawn between what is good and what is evil]], for if the [[Chaos|Great Enemy]] comes with offers of power to a wretch, what reason does he have to refuse hell if he dwells in it already?|[[Roboute Guilliman|Robu]] telling [[Dante|Luis]] the most obvious thing yet apparently missed for ten millennia of imperial history.}}

However, as said before, if you excuse GW's initial promotion that life in the Imperium must be "Tough and Dark", then average life in the Imperium for the common Joe is for all intents and purposes, uncomfortable and highly unpleasant, but ultimately tolerable for its people (as opposed to those of us in M3 who would likely lack the temperament or the constitution to do well in such a life). This can be further explained below....

===The Reality of the Imperium===
Throughout WH40K, nearly every-single grimdark example in the fluff is shown through the narrative perspective of either Space Marines and Inquisitors whose primary job is to fight against [[Chaos|WTF-Horror Eldritch Abominations]] and [[Orks|genocidal aliens]] for every single day of their lives, or of criminals, crooks and scum such as those living within the darkest pits in Hive Worlds like [[Necromunda]]. Of which, there are only about thirty-two thousand and something hundreds in ratio to the several hundreds of thousands of Civilized Worlds which are the planetary majority in the Imperium - the odds of being born in a desolated dump is actually quite low, and if you are born there, the only thing you need to be wary of are Gang fights and Mutants, and that's only if you are dumb enough to venture in the Underhive or unlucky enough to be born <s>poor</s> there (the poor can still get labor jobs in manufactoria or wherever else or enlist in the PDF and such; worlds are never lacking for jobs needing filling or soldiers to hold the fort). Life as a Middle-Class Imperial (which are the majority in Hive Worlds) is often plain and simple (if boring and repetitive) with your average wage, average working job and with your average necessities in life such as TV (level of propaganda vary) or food (might be artificially processed), and since there is always a demand for workers at some level, unemployment ratios would actually be quite small (unlike real-life, you don't have to fear automation and new technologies taking your job and the Imperium always needs more menial laborers). If you're in the Imperial Guard, the chances of being sent into an eternal meat grinder is actually quite slim, if the Imperium's size and speed is taken into perspective. Although some policies within the Imperium would be regarded as immoral or "Crimes Against Humanity" in today's world, take note that what the Imperium does is a necessary evil. They know what they're doing is morally questionable, but they have to do it since they have no other choice and in the grim setting of WH40K, this is the only solution to be dealt with for the betterment of Humanity as a whole. Unlike every single other being in the entire setting, the Imperium actually knows its necessary evils ''are'' evil and bemoans this fact but grits its teeth and does it anyway, determined to make sure what was done has meaning and was never in vain. This is why, outside of mainstream Sci-Fi where we see Aliens or some entities destroying a planet full of people for no other reason but for the [[Lulz|evulz]], in the Imperium, you see none of that, as in their point of view, to destroy a planet without a justified cause is seen as incredibly wasteful and sinful as you are technically "Wasting the Emperor's resources" (which, ironically enough, can lead to you getting executed,so its something most people try to avoid). There is even a small Ordo of the Inquisition whose job is to investigate exterminatus (planet boom) events and determine whether or not it was justified. About eighty percent of the Inquisitors who order exterminatus are executed by this Ordo for not having sufficient justification. Keep in mind that it is almost (''almost'') unheard of for exterminatus being declared unless really anyone even in the modern day could agree the planet totally needed to die.

The Imperium is also remarkably egalitarian. For the most part, regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you can reach unimaginable heights if you have the right combination of smarts, strength, faith and luck. Space Marine chapter masters were once feral tribesmen or underhive scum, great heroes of the Imperial Guard have come from death worlds, prisons or dead end jobs in hives. Inquisitors come from almost any background imaginable, and are some of the most powerful individuals in the Imperium, and can even sit as one of the High Lords of Terra. The only thing that actually blocks social mobility is the difficulty of standing out against countless trillion other humans on a million worlds. This is implied to be partially intentional as a way to get the very best of humanity in positions of power. By and large, it works. Incompetence is actually extremely rare in the Imperium (which is why it stands out so dramatically). Unfortunately, due to the scale of everything, an incompetent in the wrong place can cause a lot of disastrous effects.

===Foreign Policy on Xenos===
For those that complain of the Imperium's genocidal stance against Aliens (especially prior to the Emperor getting stuck on the golden throne), remember that during Humanitiy's earlier years, virtually every xeno they encountered were either genocidal dickheads or sadistic assholes, so can you really blame them? Take for example, the Craftworld Eldar. On the surface, they may seem benign and offer their hand in friendship, just so you are the ones who walk into a Necron Tomb-World and lose millions where they could have done the same and possibly only lost a few hundred. Regardless, this is easier said than done and they prioritize hostile races over occasional allies. Add to that, Big.E wanted an atheistic empire starving the Chaos gods out with science (although given that the Chaos gods thrive on ''emotion itself'' just as much as worship, Big E was probably doomed from the start) all without falling into '[[Men of Iron]] II: Revenge of the Machines', and those xenos that weren't deeply religious and/or psykers tended to go the A.I. way. So in order to avoid any [[Mortarion|unnecessary questions]] and [[Magnus the Red|unhealthy curiosity]], he basically got a standing order to purge everything on sight in place. Said order was duly followed during the Great Crusade proper, but now that the expansion is over, it is applied much less zealously.

Overall, the tolerance of xenos vary on their threat to Humanity in the first place, mostly since the Imperium does have not enough resources to even deal with those that possess an actual threat (hence why Ork Charadon and Sautekh Necron empires flourish, and no new crusades are sent to bring down the Tau, despite all three being almost next door to Ultramar). If the Imperium encounters another alien civilization that's only interested in trade and does not pose an obvious threat, then the Imperium (although still strictly supervised by the Inquisition) will trade to a certain extent, via [[Diplomacy]]. Put in the fact of the Imperium's "I don't disturb you and you don't disturb me" policy to outsiders, with the fact that there are actually '''A LOT''' of Xenos living within multiple Imperium Worlds contrary of popular opinion, and the fact that the majority of the wars that Humanity has fought was on the defense then the offense (of course this depends wholeheartedly on the Imperium's mood in the first place); you would then realize that on a whole, the Imperium is actually tolerant insofar as it doesn't destroy xenos races right away if they aren't an immediate threat.

An excellent way to understand the Imperium's policies toward aliens is seen in the [[The War of The Beast]] novel series, as it portrays some xenos-sympathizers and populations subjected to them. Ultimately, with threats like Chaos, genestealers, and countless other malevolent forces at large in the galaxy, the Imperium's intolerance is born of crucial necessity, with the xenophobia growing out of it as a by-product. The Imperium cannot afford to be accepting of alien influence and ideas, because you just never know what might be sneaking in with it, and they learned that through painful experience. What might be dismissed as innocent and inconsequential can (and often does) lead to the downfall of entire worlds. The only reason the Tau can act like they can openly befriend the whole galaxy is because they are naively unaware of all of what's out there and what they're potentially inviting in and run the risk of learning the same lessons the Imperium did the hard way. That much has been pointed out by both [[Farsight]] and [[Ciaphas Cain]]. Even with all the above, the Imperium is focused on survival above all else, and if that means working with xenos they may very well do so. [[Roboute Guilliman]] can testify to that, given that said xenos played a major role in his revival.

Besides all of this, the Imperium isn't going around just blamming every species even when it can for a simple reason: the Imperium is not evil. The Imperium is not a murderer, it is not insane, and it tries to be honorable as much as is feasible. Killing a species when it is unnecessary is murder and is definitely dishonorable. The Imperium is a civilization, and is as “civilized” as it can be in the reality it finds itself in. They hate all aliens, even those whom they have accepted as protectorates, allies, neutral, or simply "we live on the same planet, don't mess with us and we won't kill you". However, the Imperium understands the difference between understandable hatred and actually acting on that hatred against beings whose extermination is not necessary. Heck, there are plenty of people whoever is reading this might hate, but you don't go around kill them, do you? Exactly.

===Governmental & Ideological Structure of the Imperium===
Additionally, while the Imperium, as referenced above, looks like a merciless and oppressive empire, it is in fact a confederation of several powerful organizations and a million planets. It occupies a strange place in between libertarian paradise (as planets have a fair bit of autonomy, more than GW would like to admit) and oppressive theocracy, (as shown all over this page) as the Imperium's main policy for what a world does under their control is "Pay the tithe, send your psykers over when the Black Ships show up, and don't make me come over there." Each 'normal' planet in the Imperium (besides specially classified planets like Forge Worlds, Fortress Worlds, Death Worlds...) has its own laws, Government, culture and social order that can [[Attilan Rough Riders|differ]] [[Tallarn Desert Raiders|from]] [[Salamanders|one]] [[Ultramarines|another]] [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|by]] [[Vostroyan Firstborn|A]] [[Space Wolves|LOT.]] Just like today's countries some have merciless dictators (North Korea) and some have democracy to an extent where citizens can choose their own head of government (UK). Furthermore, each planet itself is actually quite independent to the extent where they can have their own armed forces and even wage their own civil wars. Due to this, the Imperium only cares when some serious shit happens (like xenos invasion, [[Chaos|corruption by Oh-God-What-The-Fuck eldritch horrors from beyond space and time]], or when a Planetary Governor decided to declare himself independent of the Imperium), and given that this is the Imperium, these kinds of things vary from "happening by on a regular basis" to "Not seeing an actual war for multiple millennia".

[[File:Tumblr nnrqjzAyKm1si96eio4 400.jpg|thumb|400px|right|A sprawling Imperial city. That ship's around two miles long, by the way. In Rogue Trader, anyway. In the novels more like ten to twenty.]]
Of course, in a few cases where a Planetary Governor or planet does declare independence, it is usually listed as [[HERESY]], however most Governors don't do this kind of thing because [[Chaos|they]] [[Necrons|know]] [[Orks|what's]] [[Dark Eldar|out]] [[Tyranids|there]] and that the Imperium is the only thing that [[Imperial Guard|can]] [[Space Marines|protect]] [[Imperial Navy|them]], because the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] and the system of the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] provides a cheap system of FTL and communication through the horrors of the [[Warp]], and because the Merchant Fleet enables intergalatic commerce. There is also the reason that they have so much autonomy already that there isn't really a reason to leave the Imperium other than sheer greed. It isn't like tithes are high anyway, so just greed and egomania. If a Planet declares independence, he loses the right to FTL and trade with the Imperium, and that's bad for Hive Worlds that need Agri-Worlds in order to survive, meaning the Imperium doesn't even ''need'' to send in their military since ''they'' know that the young usurper would most likely peacefully surrender in that prospect. The reason why the loyalty of some planets differ in question varied over the Imperium's history. During the Great Crusade, most worlds were extremely loyal to both the Imperium and the Emperor because it rescued them from all sorts of indescribable horrors that had plagued them for the thousands of years of the Long Night (Age of Strife). After the Great Crusade, the Imperium remained (mostly) cohesive as a whole due to both a remaining sense of loyalty to their savior and for mutual survival in the face of a severely fucked up galaxy. After a few thousand years of that, the Imperial Cult had gained sufficient strength that the reasons for remaining loyal to the Imperium and the Emperor expanded from just mutual survival to a shared religion where loyalty between each planet must be routinely checked to prevent separatism or [[Horus Heresy|another civil war that essentially kicked the Imperium in the galactic nuts.]] [[Derp|However, even then,]] [[Age of Apostasy|some religious asshat decides to do it all over again]] [[lulz|for the lulz,]] the aftermath of which persuaded some Planetary Rulers to question the legitimacy and thus loyalty to the Imperium. This is why you see that although most planets would never dare to even break away from the Imperium, a certain few that do break away is either due to the above questioning, your typical [[Just as Planned|Chaos hijinks]], xenos manipulation (as is frequently the case when the Tau or Genestealer Cults are involved), or just a Planetary Governor who's either arrogant enough to think he can get away with it or desperate enough to believe his world has nothing to lose from rebellion.

Therefore, the loyalty of most to the Imperium is not out of an ideological obsession to stamp out HERESY, but of pragmatism and necessity in order to survive in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium as Protectorates. This real-life perspective again, is then supported in WH40K where the Imperium, being a decentralized but powerful semi-autonomous group of Corporate entities, have different ways of pledging allegiance to the Emperor himself rather than the State: the Inquisition stamps out anyone caught separating from or perverting the Emperor's rule of conduct as Heresy, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] worships the Emperor as an aspect of another pagan Machine-god called the Omnissiah and benefits from an ancient pact of alliance dating to the Great Crusade, and the [[Adeptus Astartes]] are altered transhumans who merely view the Emperor as an exemplar of humanity, but were created by the Emperor himself and so can claim a closer connection to him than the other above-mentioned organizations via their genetic descent from the Primarchs. They all might just as well declare each other's ideologies as HERESY but each of them are personal Protectorate vassals to the Emperor himself, and both know that they need to work together lest Humanity as a whole goes extinct. Thus, as said multiple times before, the Imperium is not a centralized superstate, and more akin to a Coalition of Confederated Mini-Empires that's disguised as a Galactic Superpower (though the Imperium has its independent military and technological might with which to enforce its laws); or in real-life examples, the Imperium is more of a mixture between the "Protectorate" system like the Roman Empire, which allowed local governments to exist as Protectorates as long as they pay taxes and say that the Emperor is all "Good and Dandy", and today's UN which allows member nations to join while still keeping their national/cultural dignity, along with the Veto Powers between the founding members of China, US, Russia, France and Britain so they can keep each others powers in balance (Similar to the equal powers between the High-Lords of Terra).

Additionally, while chastity and prudence are technically heralded as virtues by [[Sisters of Battle|some]] organizations and planets within the Imperium, the Imperium as a whole is decidedly pro-sex. The reason is more utilitarian than [[Slaanesh|hedonistic]]; more babies means more soldiers. Even in the smallest sectors, there are always more planets to colonize (even if it's on the ruins of some other civilization) so space is seldom a concern. Imperial citizens are encouraged, by most local customs, to be fruitful so that the tithes may be paid. If you'd ask "why not just clone more soldiers?", the reason the Imperium doesn't do that (atleast excluding their black projects like the [[Afriel Strain]] soldiers) is because it's considered a perversion of the holy human form, hence it's labeled as heresy. Plus, attempting to clone regiments of soldiers on a rapid basis is likely to come with a variety of genetic problems that would hinder the Imperium rather than help it. Then there's the problem that the technology to clone a full human with a functioning mind (as opposed to a brain-dead clone fit for making into a servitor) is extremely difficult, to say nothing of how the clones' souls seem to be inherently abnormal for reasons nobody can explain.

And if anyone still complains that the Imperium is still 'dark and miserable,' just shove Stephen Baxter's [[Xeelee Sequence]] down their throats, portraying a human empire that is so downright evil and malicious that you will actually applaud their [[rape|cosmic butt-whipping]] by the nigh god-like Xeelee. Seriously, the Interim Coalition of Governance is what happens when the [[Marines Malevolent]] becomes a pan-galactic empire that has no qualms in sending over [[Grimdark|200 trillion child soldiers to die in a rather hopeless and pointless war;]] they make the policies of the Imperium [[Noblebright|look like the]] [[Star Trek|United Federation of Planets]] [[BrightHammer40k|in comparison.]]

===Character development at meta level===

From a meta point of view the evolution of the Imperium reflects that of the franchise and the company's interest and capabilities, back in the 80s during the Rogue Trader GW writers didn't bother too much about the possible ramifications of their character profiles, they were after all doing things for kids which wanted something cool and funny; morality, rationale and introspection didn't really have that much of a priority, at best there was a lot of parody with a pinch of political commentary inherent in british pop culture.

As editions moved the Imperium went from a glam-coloured 80s feudal cyberpunk place for adventures, fun and profit to the stage were the "Grimdark" entered in full effect, think of it a bit like a child turning into a teenager who wants to sound cool a deep, edginess was the order of the day for the Third Edition, this is from where a lot of the dystopian stuff we all know and love came from, Battlefleet Gothic with their slave-powered ships is a great example, the original portrayal of the necrons as eldritch horrors directed by the C'tan are born from this edition too, it was the lowest point of characterization for the Imperium in terms of dark induced apathy.

Gradually, thanks in great part to the efforts of Black Library writers and the simple fact many fans were already adults who wanted something more "elaborate" the Imperium started to gain their humane elements, the Gaunt Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain put in evidence that no, not everyone in the Imperial Guard were zealots and jerkasses, Uriel Ventris and other SM portrayals allowed the Adeptus Astartes to win back their heroic aspect and while Matt Ward broke a lot of the old fluff he allowed for factions such as the Necrons to become something more than a horde of metallic zombies.

The case of commissar Cain is special, some people didn't like to consider him canon as he broke with the overall idea of grimdarkness, he starts as an anomaly, a secretly epicurean, self-loathing character capable of decent and even heroic acts as well as abject fear who visits worlds which suddenly are not hells on earth, through his eyes we see both military and civilians who are, despite the obvious and obligatory cultural dissonances, humans with their loves, hatreds, good intentions and limitations, enjoying life whenever they can and showing commodities and services which shouldn't exist in the grim darkness of the far future, this sudden injection of humanity shakes a great deal of the fanbase perception of the Imperium, they suddenly discover this galactic warring monster is quite more than a stage for endless dystopian war, suddenly imperials have a great deal more to fight for than debased ideology, they are fighting for survival, and that survival can allow for something more than slave-work at factories alternated with unending sermons, behind the facade of the fanatic and the mad you find reality ensues, ruthlessness with your own is a ticket for friendly fire incidents, even the staunchest sororitas has a pension to think of and the administratum is not totally filled of incompetent people.

Gaunt's Ghost work in tandem with Ciaphas Cain to add more humanity to the Imperium, the Tanith First and Only are people, they remember their world of forest and stone cities destroyed, they clearly see their memory as something worth fighting for, and while they are loyal to the Imperium they will notice when there is something unfair and, if possible, deal with it, even at terminal strength, while Colonel-Commissar may be in the minority of competent commanders he and other characters in HQ put in evidence you can't run a military force purely with lash and bolt-pistol, at least not totally, like many real-life regimes you still need a sandwich as well as a shotgun to deal with people, remove the sandwich, use the shotgun too much and you will eventually find the dog bitting back.

The Horus Heresy series helped too, as the origins of the Imperium were vastly expanded and explained, allowing for a better understanding of the choices taken by both loyalists and traitors, the Emperor in particular lost their portrayal of a perfect being and finally was revealed to be a more human character, with great inentions but ultimately flawed and capable of failure. This also allowed for a better understanding of how the Imperium became so religious, repressive and authoritian despite, or perhaps, because Big E original plans to fight the Chaos Gods by starving them, the primarchs background was further explored and the tragedy behind their fall became now a known narrative, all these aspects adding a "depth of field".

With the return of Guilliman in the last editions we finally come to a point where the Imperium as an entity recovers, or more exactly gains, its capability for self-criticism, and with it a gut-punching self-awareness, we see through Guilliman's eyes the vast gears of traditionalist government, the monumental historic inertia pushing things to the brink, the continuous and terrible technological, economic and social degradation mankind has been subjected for centuries fueled by terrible wars of extinction.

From such capability to see these flaws is that the desire to break with this unending cycle of darkness is born, for the first time we see the chance of reform not born from Tzeentchian influence or Xenos infiltration, stable (so far) technological advancement finally happens, the character of Belisarius Cawl comes to mind, he is certainly a maverick, his relation with Guilliman and his subordinates is interesting, he knows his own value and dares others on the Imperium's side in a way which reminds a bit of the oldest editions where Rogue Traders went to strange and extravagant adventures, but we also see his backstory, what eventually shaped in his current self, his manias and hopes, no longer just "the tech support guy who knows how to fix the server", but a person, someone who can go talk face to face with Guilliman.

And hence in the Imperium of this modern age ancient traditional powers find themselves checked, not to say this brave new messiah in blue is not without his limits and contradictions, more than once Guilliman has to recognize his own mistakes, and he is still blind to others, and some things he attempts don't end well, and while the situation has become more critical than ever since, perhaps, the Horus Heresy, the Imperium and characters such as his "Uncrowned King" as narrative entities finally recover their potential for the humane. The Imperium is still a place of unending war and misery, en epic saga with many elements of cosmic horror history, but with a glimpse of a path to, in words of Black Library "Salvation".

==Anthems of the Imperium of Man==
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duYoKxb0IeI - The anthem of the Imperium of the 41st Millennium.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM_c_avPlx4 - Battle anthem of the Adeptus Astartes

==See Also==
* [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)]], for their slightly less grimdark and '''much''' smaller scale alleged Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Skaven|The Underempire]] for their ''actual'' Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Azyr]] for their [[noblebright]] [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]] counterpart.

==Summary==
[[grimdark|In the grim dark future of the 41st Millennium, there is only bleak, grim, black, hopeless, dismal, barren, gloomy, gray, joyless, dour, dreary, dark, cheerless, glum, oppressive, somber, grim darkness. And the sugar beet/cane is extinct.]]
[[File:DAoT.jpg|580px|center|thumb|What the Imperium would likely look like if the Mechanicus ever decided to get their head out of their collective ass. Except there would be skulls and gothic architecture everywhere (which is automatically superior in every way to stupid shiny smooth shit).]]
[[File:1342123121.jpg|580px|center|thumb|Ah, much better...]]

==External Link==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MeVxKZBOfM The history of the Imperium in about a minute and a half.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUrSQNSN6_c The Story of the Imperium in a musical piece] - [[Great Crusade|Slow start that]] [[Horus Heresy|soon erupts into allout badassery]] [[Time of Ending|and is quenched in a desperate last stand against the mighiest threats,]] [[Grimdark|before it flickers and dies...]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHSvSZ-UEFc An (arguably) more optimistic but no less brutal take on the eternal Imperium and its history. Times of majesty, times of destruction, times of glory, times of despair, they all alternate and repeat with the one endless constant of war.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csu6vbWA-YQ A new song to herald the trying time of the Imperium] - [[Black Crusade|A slow, malevolent start]] [[Great Rift|to capture the spread of evil]] [[Cadia|over the closest thing to good in the universe]] [[Belisarius Cawl|followed by]] [[Saint Celestine|faint whispers of]] [[Roboute Guilliman| hope]] [[Indomitus Crusade|that erupts in an enormous cresendo,]] [[grimdark|before fading with a quiet whine.]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1CQ7Vwz8Eo the Imperium of man's theme song, less serious, more accurate perhaps.]

{{Imperium}}
{{Template:40k-Governments}}
[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

The Imperium of Man

2020-06-13T04:13:21Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: Undo revision 664258 by 2601:197:B7F:E0C0:ECC6:61A0:1FBE:AF39 (talk)

{{Infobox 40k Nations
|name=Imperium of Man
|image=[[Image:Imperium_Flag.jpg ‎|300px|center]]
|Capital=[[Holy Terra]]
|Official Languages= High Gothic (aka Latin), Low Gothic (aka English/French/German/Italian/Russian/Chinese/Literally Every Language) and its countless dialects, Binary and billions of minor and local languages
|Power=Galactic Superpower
|Size=Galactic but stretched thin More than 1 million to 10 million planets
|Head of State=[[Emperor of Mankind]]
|Head of Government=[[Roboute Guilliman|Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman]], [[High Lords of Terra]], [[Dante|Lord Regent of Imperium Nihilus Dante]]
|Governmental Structure=Unitary Atheistic Authoritarian Absolute Monarchy (''Great Crusade'') Feudal Totalitarian Theocratic Dictatorship (''Age of Apostasy'') Feudal Theocratic Authoritarian Confederated Oligarchy (''41st Millennium'') Unitary Authoritarian Semi-Theocratic Confederation (''42nd Millennium'')
|State Religion/Ideology=[[Imperial Truth|State Atheism]] (''Great Crusade'') [[Imperial Cult]] (''32nd Millennium onward'')
|Demographic=[[Humans]], [[Abhuman|Abhumans]], minor [[Xenos]] races, assorted Transhumans
|Military Force=[[Imperial Guard]], [[Space Marines]], [[Militarum Tempestus]], [[Sisters of Battle]], [[Inquisition]], [[Planetary Defense Force]]
}}
{{Topquote|What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?|Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2}}
{{Topquote|Great empires are not maintained by timidity.|Tacitus}}
{{Topquote|This bloated, rotten carcass of an empire is driven not by reason and hope, but by fear, hate and ignorance.|[[Roboute Guilliman]], who is [[Butthurt|not pleased]] by the [[Grimdark|actual state]] of the Imperium}}
[[File:Imperial Aquila.jpg|thumb|300px|left|The Aquila, the symbol of the Imperium and personal heraldry of the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]]. Failing to show proper reverence to the Aquila is [[heresy]] punishable by *BLAM*ing. The two heads represent looking towards the future while being [[Imperial Truth|blind towards the mistakes of the past]], while the two heads and differing feet represent the Terra-Mars alliance.]]
The '''Imperium of Man''' (Lat.: '''IMPERIVM HVMANVM''' or '''IMPERIVM HOMINIS''') is a gigantic, galaxy-spanning Civilization (to give you an idea of how truly massive this empire is, the most conservative estimates place its population at four quadrillion. Estimates that take into account the huge number of what are essentially [[Hive|cramped apartment-building planets]]? Now we're talking upwards of FORTY quadrillion. Oh, and this is not counting planets they have lost track of due to various heresies and other catastrophies, not to mention the general incompetence of those [[Administratum|blasted pencil-push]]{{BLAM}}) that contains the vast majority of humanity in the tabletop game ''[[Warhammer 40K]]''. It is often stereotyped in popular media as a xenophobic, amoral, gargantuan, militaristic, merciless, stratified, theocratic, [[Paranoia|paranoid, dystopian, totalitarian]], semi-police state and hellishly oligarchical bureaucracy. Why this is called 'stereotypical' to begin with is questionable though since it's absolutely fucking true{{BLAM}} Think of a hideous amalgamation of the [[Roman Empire]] including Byzantine Era with its sheer amount of scheming and administrative stupidity, pre-Reformation Catholic Church, [[Nazi|Nazi Germany]], Imperial Japan, Soviet Russia and George Orwell's ''[[1984]]'' spread out across the stars, under constant attack by aliens and subject to countless [[Chaos|disasters]] everyday. Add in the fanatical worship of a [[Emperor|dead dictator]] and it's basically North Korea IN SPEHSS (but somehow fucking works).

However, this is what [[GW]] ''wants you to think''; in all retrospective outside of the popular perspective, the Imperium of Man can actually be a pretty nice place to live depending on where you actually live... although GW description does apply to Death Worlds, some Hive Worlds and the Imperium as a whole. Sure, there are shit-holes like Catachan, but because of its size and extreme variety, you also have a higher chance of being born in places that shits all over any modern developed country and may even be led by people better than Gandhi. While it's plausible that atrocities happen all the time in the Imperium, given its size, that doesn't mean that everyone is always doomed. Unfortunately Games Workshop decided to ignore this aspect since it is not [[Derp|metal and grimderp]] enough...and thus does not help with [[Profit|sales]].

Almost everything 40K related and homebrewed on this website is a sterling example of /tg/ taking creative liberties with what the Imperium stands for. These include, but are not limited to, the [[Angry Marines]], [[Commissar Raege]], [[Commissar Fuklaw]], [[Pretty Marines]], [[Reasonable Marines]]... Truly, anonymous delivers!

==Synopsis==
[[File:Iron Men 40k.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The [[Iron Men]] are credited with fucking humanity right over, just like the [[Old Ones]] did with the rest of the galaxy's inhabitants.]]
The Imperium consists of over a million habitable worlds and is of such size that the loss of a few dozen planets (along with billions of citizens) is not even worth the paperwork it would take to declare said worlds Perdatus. Under constant threat and attack by a myriad of powerful alien races and traitorous forces, the Imperium is engulfed in a constant galaxy-spanning war. The everyday rule of the Imperium is left to the [[High Lords of Terra]], who basically don't give a fuck about anybody and have no clue what the hell they're doing half of the time.

The figurehead and subject of compulsory religious veneration, the immortal [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] forged the Imperium out of the [[Age of Strife]]. Being physically fucked for the past 10,000 years, he sits immobile and connected to the Golden Throne far from the sight of his subjects, witnessed his formerly [[Star Trek|glorious utopia of science and reason]] drop 99.9% of its IQ points against his will, and requires the sacrifice of many psykers a day to keep him alive, though this hasn't prevented his body from decomposing (he still has some fleshy bits left) and now looks like a mummy without the wrappings. [[Heresy]] is the greatest crime one can commit in the Imperium, the punishment for which is a painful death or torture followed by a painful death. Technology is barely understood and basically mythological, and even the Techpriests are afraid of their machines (this aspect of the Techpriests has been lessened over the years, now they're more like spiritualistic and very dogmatic scientists rather than technowizards.)

[[Image:Forbidden_Love.jpg|thumb|right|This would never happen. Ever. At least, not where anyone could see it.]]
The Imperium is also one of the biggest entities in the 40k universe, like a fatguy that hogs half the couch for himself and forces the others to sit on the arm rests. Some fa/tg/uys theorize that if the Imperium falls it may take the rest of the galaxy with it, as it holds so much territory that it staves off the Tyranids and the Orks before they can nom/loot everyone else's shit. (e.g. Dawn of War II, Spess Mahreens nuke the Tyranid fleet before they can nom an Eldar Craftworld.)

It's now a complete shithole and is not even remotely close to the Emperor's vision for humanity. Reasons for this include the Imperium's leaders being heartless fuckwads and the necessity of such an uncaring organization for the survival of humanity in a galaxy that wants to kill them in a million painful ways.

That's fucking grimdark, but at least there's Slaanesh to lighten everything u-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an approved author. +}}

Well, honestly, Nurgle is at least a pretty nice gu-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Well, at least we have Tzee-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

Kho-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. ++ And for fucks sake please stop mentioning the cha--}}
{{BLAM}}

===Roboute Guilliman in M42===
With the events of Gathering Storm and the Dark Imperium, the awakening of [[Roboute Guilliman|Big Blue Wonder]] ushered sweeping changes within the governmental ruling of the Imperium. Roboute's self coronation as Lord Commander (His old job) and political reforms that meant the firing of some High Lords of Terra meant that the IoM is becoming more centralized like it was during the Great Crusade.

Of course, centralization means a more authoritarian Imperium. Nevertheless, Guilliman is the best living person to be given the responsibility in fixing the bureaucratic nightmare of the Imperium, so there is little reason to panic. One of the biggest reasons the vast majority of the Imperial Guard spends entire careers fighting rebelling worlds instead of humanity’s enemies is because each planet is highly autonomous and their governments simply blame the Imperium for the hardships caused by the greed of those worlds’ nobles and governors. So, an Imperium with greater authority and control over its worlds would increase efficiency and effectiveness of planetary governments in the Imperium’s usual inefficient methods; then the eighty percent of Imperial Guard forces fighting rebels can go banhammer aliens and daemons instead. Some (including the High Lords themselves, to the surprise of nobody) consider Roboute's rule as a dictatorship (not like they can honestly stop him since he has a blood claim to the throne and effectively controls all Space Marines and Custodes), but the reality is that whilst the Imperium is centralizing in a manner akin to how it was in the Great Crusade, certain political entities such as the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition still holds significant clout and influence over the Imperium. With Guilliman currently updating his new Codex Imperialis for good governance and ruling, it is safe to say that the quality of life for the Imperium would be slowly improving. Of course, the vastness and sheer diversity of the IoM combined with the unwillingness of the above-mentioned political entities to accept reform means that the actual results are ''far'' more complicated than this. Nonetheless, the very fact that Guilliman's rule is actively trying to improve the Imperium with mixed results shows that the Imperium unlike traditional oppressive regimes, still have a chance for the better. It would still be the Imperium we know and love, but it would be far more efficient and competent, since efficiency and competency was the biggest crutch on why the Imperium is in such a dire situation. Resistance to Guilliman’s reforms would most likely be met by a visit from loyal Inquisitors and the Inquisitor’s who plot against his reforms would probably be vanished by Raven Guard sent by Guilliman. Anyone in the way of his plans would simply...disappear or end up mysteriously dead. Primarchs are not known for taking shit. Or for accepting “no” as an answer to their orders.

Furthermore, it seems that the jingoistic foreign policy of the Imperium towards xenos for 10,000 years has relaxed slightly in favor of pragmatism on Robby's part, most exemplified by the current alliance of convenience between the Imperium and the Ynnari (It's hard to say exactly how sincere the relationship ''is''; Guilliman himself noted that the Ynnari could be respected but not necessarily trusted, and the [[Visarch]] has voiced criticism of [[Yvraine]] acting as a "lapdog of the Imperium", so while they're not fighting each other they can hardly be called the best of friends). However, it has been suggested that Big Bobby G and Yvraine are totally hot for each other and want to have crazy butt-s...OH NOT AGAIN! {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|HERESY!}} It could also be due to [[Great Rift|the giant Warp scar]] spawned from Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade and how Chaos is now a bigger threat to the Imperium than ever. G-man also appointed [[Dante]] as warden to administer the other half of the Imperium across the Great Rift.

==Forces Of The Imperium==
* [[Adeptus Custodes]] - The Emperor's personal bodyguards who make ''Space Marines'' look like ordinary men. Their armour has so much bling it makes even the most pimptastic Space Marine's Artificer Armour look cheap. Their modification and training, not to mention the loss of the Emperor, robbed most of them of empathy and the ability to form connections with other people (even each other), as the only being they trusted absolutely is now stuck between life and death. Others are quite reasonable guys, and after 10,000 years on the bench, and a minor deamon invasion of Holy Terra, they're back in the game in a big way. Anyway, they go to insane lengths and cross any moral line to ensure His safety, and are now going forth on Crusade to help guard humanity as a whole from unending terror. Grimdark.
* [[Space Marines]] - The enhanced, power armored supersoldiers who form the elite warriors of the Imperium. All they do is train, sleep, pray, fight, and die; and they love every second of it (being the loyal warrior monks they are). There are only a million of them, but since the Imperium only has about a million planets it kind of evens out. They are no longer human, and remember nothing but an endless service of bloodshed culminating in their own violent deaths. Grimdark.
[[Image:Guardsmen_fighting.jpg|thumb|right|Die horribly or Join the Guard and THEN die horribly. At least that way you'll get a sweet-looking [[Lasgun|flashlight]].]]
* [[Imperial Guard]] - The countless quadrillions of regular humans who form the vast majority of the Imperium's armed forces. Very similar to a conventional modern military, they are a bunch of manly farmers and factory workers fighting off [[Necrons|unstoppable robots with guns that completely rip their skin off]], [[Tyranids|huge monstrous aliens who want to OM NOM NOM everything]], [[Chaos Space Marines|batshit insane super humans who want to kill everyone in painful ways and sacrifice their victims' souls while doing it]], [[Orks|barbaric aliens who are made for FIGHTAN AND WINNIN']], [[Eldar|mysterious spehss pansies who don't give a shit about anyone else]], [[Dark Eldar|spehss elves who wants to torture and rape them with the worst forms of BDSM]], [[Tau|Orwellian weeaboo space communists]], or [[Rak'gol|obscure but brutal spider Cthulhu reptiles that like to rip your intestines out before stealing all your stuff]], with little more than a [[Lasgun|flashlight]], [[Tallarn Desert Raiders|reinforced cardboard]], [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|standard-issue chest-hair]] and [[Cadia|BALLS O' STEEL]]. Or that's what you might be led to believe: a big part of the Imperium's wars are fought against fellow humans (or [[Lost and the Damned|things that once were human]]) but decided they had enough of being crapped upon by greedy superiors and uncaring leaders. Selfishly ignoring the fact the Imperium has no problem with them overthrowing said greedy superiors and uncaring leaders so long as Imperial law, taxes, and tithes are obeyed. But no, that would mean admitting their own cowardice was their own fault, so they rebel against "the man" instead and "the man" curbstomps them in the face for it. Most Imperial Guardsmen are conscripted every now and then from the best Planetary Defence Force troopers on a given world. Some planets supplement this supply with prisoners, while others give over their entire population to the Imperium as their tithe, the birth rate equaling the recruitment rate. Most die or muster out and they will never again see home, unless they're fighting on it. [[Grimdark]].
[[Image:Magos_Explorator_Delphan_Gruss.jpg|thumb|right|Combat Dentists, the Mechanicum's leading specialists on tooth heresy.]]
* [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] - An organization of Tech-priests. They have a monopoly over all Imperial technology from giant mecha to cybernetics, and almost everyone else in the Imperium is afraid of their machines. As a result, the Admech has to loan their techpriests to other organizations in the form of Enginseers, though for Space Marines it's more a work study program as they'll send one of their own troops to become a Techmarine. Independent scientists also exist, but only as long as they don't get killed for [[heresy]] or stay below the Mechanicus radar. Once these independents get powerful or competent enough to make a difference, they get wiped out or absorbed into Cult Mechanicus. Includes [[Adeptus Titanicus]]‎, [[Legio Cybernetica]] (Insidious Death Robotics, Inc), Centurio [[Ordinatus]] (look at name, figure it out), [[Skitarii]] (basically Imperial Guard of the Mechanicus), Auxilia [[Myrmidon]] (tech-priest war savants, stuff of nightmares), and the Ordo Reductor (siege specialists, infamous for ripping off the Space Marines by making the [[Thallax]]). Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Navy]] - Job is pretty self-explanatory, they split with the Guard after the Horus Heresy. They are a very large organization, as you would expect from a navy tasked with protecting a million worlds. Their ships range in size from meters-long fighters to kilometers-long battleships which are quite capable of [[Exterminatus|blowing up planets]], mostly Imperial ones, which they do at the command of the Inquisition on a regular basis in the fight against '''HERESY'''. Because Humanity was ass-raped by AI 15,000 years ago, the Imperial Navy uses huge human crews, most of which are "recruited" (i.e. Shanghaied) to die in space as one of billions of expendable men. Grimderp, considering not even some hydraulic lifters are employed when reloading even though the rest of the ship is high tech.
* [[Adeptus Arbites]] - These guys police every world in the Imperium. They're like [[Judge Dredd]] but more Grimdark. Arbites are usually one of the first institutions to be set up on a world and are equipped to fight a small war, with equipment ranging from power mauls and suppression shields to lasguns and even the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]]. On the ground the Arbites have four units: Patrol Groups, whose job it is to make sure no wrongdoing occurs in the settlement; Shock Troops who are sent in when there are riots, street wars and other generalized disturbances (they usually shoot on sight if you are anywhere near the problem center); Execution Teams who pursue specific guilty individuals or groups; and Snatch Squads who are charged with capturing a specific individual or group for questioning. The criminals caught by the Arbites usually wind up dead [[Blam|one way]] [[Penal legion|or another]]. The Inquisition often uses the Arbites to apprehend certain individuals if they do not wish to be directly involved. Grimdark.
* [[Inquisition]] - The KGB of the Imperium. Their job is to keep said Imperium secure and loyal. With jurisdiction over nearly anyone and anything, the Inquisitors and their agents have very few impediments on their endless quest to contain heresy. The Inquisition consists of three main branches: the Ordo Hereticus, who's duty is to eliminate or contain threats such as '''HERESY''', mutants, and traitors; the Ordo Xenos, who specialize in destruction of alien threats, and the Ordo Malleus who are called on to stop Daemonic incursions. If they do their job poorly, entire worlds get destroyed based on the barest rumors. Alternatively, if they do their jobs well, those worlds still get destroyed because there are no other alternatives to stop the many genocidal threats the Imperium faces. Also, nobody expects them. Grimdark.
[[Image:Pimpin_Imperium.png|thumb|right|The Inquisition: not as easy as it looks.]]
* [[Sisters of Battle]] - The [[Ecclesiarchy|Ecclesiarchy's]] army, the nuns-with-guns or bolter bitches. Originally, they were an isolated all-female cult on a backwater world, and subsequently became the personal army of [[Goge Vandire]] during his fab [[Age of Apostasy|Age of Apostasy]]. After that blew over, they came into their current role through some top-notch [[rules lawyers|rules lawyering]]- after the Age of Apostasy, the Ecclesiarchy was only barred from having ''men'' under arms, so the Sisters weren't disbanded. They are trained from early age (because they are picked up as orphans) and in the end they become one of the best fighting troops of the Imperium, second only to the Astartes themselves. Their faith is so great that even Grey Knights are jealous of it. [[/tg/]] likes to see Sisters in different heretical fantasies, often involving [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh]], [[Shlicktau|female Tau]] and [[The wet dream of selena agna|Eldar Farseers]]. But what the poor bastards don't know is that the Sisters are all into [[FAIL|celibacy]] (though some lore says otherwise), love only the Emperor (sometimes it's a damn shame), and are so zealous and fanatical that they would turn off just about any human man anyway. Armed with their trusty Bolters, Meltaguns and Flamers (The Holy Trinity of weaponry as far as they're concerned), they go around the galaxy and kick Chaos/Renegades/Xenos ass as much as they can. Grimdark.
* [[Deathwatch]] - If you're an especially skilled Space Marine, or if your chapter just wants to get rid of you, the Deathwatch is always looking for new recruits to train into even more hyper-efficient xenos-killing machines. Acting on behalf of the Ordo Xenos, recruits get hypno-indoctrinated with endless videos of battle brothers getting slaughtered by all manner of xenos until they become frothing angry and need to be physically restrained. Instead of organizing into large task forces, the Deathwatch fights in small special-forces killteams to complete specific objectives and kick ass. Some of its members deliberately obscure or renounce their past ties and become [[Blackshield]]s, permanently joining the Deathwatch until death claims them. Grimdark.
* [[Grey Knights]] - You thought Space Marines were bad dudes? Well loyal citizen, Grey Knights are SUPER-Space Marines who are VERY interested in your heretical Google image searches. They function as the military arm of the Ordo Malleus. In a galaxy and time where literal demons from space hell can punch through reality and turbo-slaughter whole sectors, the Grey Knights are THE final word in supernatural defense. This was especially important since for over 10,000 years, there WERE no good Primarches around to fight the blasphemous ascended being of the week. Every bit of armor, weapon, training and gear they have is top of the line, and nigh irreplaceable. When they fight, a psychic shroud inhibits the psychic powers of whoever they are fighting, and they have psychic Nemesis Force Wea<strike>'''OH CHRIST, I CAN'T GO ON, THIS SHIT IS BANANAS!'''</strike> {{BLAM|Ignore Matt Ward's bullshit, stop making shitty references to Zero Punctuation, and finish the damn article! Psychic Psychic Bendy Spoons.}} Aside from their anti-anti-anti Chaos gear, Grey Knights aren't typically who you send to stop a cult. They're the guys you send to clean up a Chaos defiled planet with boiling oceans, poisonous air, psychedelic skies, and more bones than living people on them. Grimdark. And yet, no Grey Knight has EVER fallen to Chaos. Which is [[awesome]].
* [[Officio Assassinorum]] - The coolest (and scariest) men and women in the Imperium. Whose job it is to kill people. While one would think this would overlap with the duties of every other Imperial organization, it is different because the Assassinorum trains spies and assassins to be more subtle, such as [[Tzeentch|manipulating people to do your dirty work while totally not aware you are behind it]]. Except when they train batshit insane [[Eversor]] Assassins. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a paradox. Leaving no survivors to tell the tale is [[Oinkbane|a subtlety all in itself]]. Grimdark.
* [[Sisters of Silence]] - The militant arm of the Astra Telepathica, they are all Blanks and refuse to speak but are deadly enough to take down any psyker threat and to travel with the likes of [[Leman Russ]] and the Custodes. As you can imagine they feature in some pretty badass artwork but sadly have very little work dedicated to them. It is unknown if they survived the end of the Great Crusade but there have been no indications to the contrary. Given that the Inquisition and Culexus Temple exist their role is partly redundant, but may be justified in that by being under the direct authority of the branch that deals with Psykers it allows a faster and more standardized way of handling Psykers, plus neither zealous assault forces or assassins would exactly fit the job description. Grimdark (?). With the return of Guilliman to the Imperium we now know that the sisters did indeed survive, although they were officially disbanded as a fighting force. Nothing like getting fired the day after your dad dies. Understandably upset, many simply wandered off into the sunset, but a large number stayed to crew the [[Black Ships]] that go around collecting psykers to feed to the Emperor. With Rawbutt Girlyman's return, the Emo Sisters have started to fight on the frontlines again, serving as anti-psyker defense and notably fighting alongside their best bros the Custodes for the first time in 10,000 years (maybe). Considering how bad [[grimdark|the state of the galaxy is]] due to the [[Great Rift]], their job has become wayyyyy busier than ever before.

===Other organizations===
* [[Administratum]] - The pencil pushers of the Imperium, complete with bureaucrats so devoted to their trade that they treat it like a religion, and massive inefficiency. They regulate the [[Imperial Guard]] and the [[Imperial Navy]], dictate and assess the Tithes all worlds in the Imperium are required to pay to Holy Terra, and administer how those things get used. Their archives are so big and so full that if you search anything in them, you'll die wrapped in endless layers of red tape, if you're not accompanied by an Adept. Grimdark.
* [[Ecclesiarchy]] - The Imperial Church which works with the Inquisition to regulate the worship of the Emperor and define what counts as '''HERESY'''. Basically priests with flamethrowers and mega-chainsaws. It also oversees the Sisters of Battle and the [[Schola Progenium]], and works closely with the [[Ordo Hereticus]]. Often has a complicated relationship with the other members branches of the Imperium (Space Marines insisting that the Emperor was a human, the Administratum for overall control of the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus worshiping a deity that ''should'' be the Emprah or not, etc.). Grimdark.
* [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] - The organization charged with maintaining the Imperium's vast network of [[psyker|psykers]], who are necessary for faster than light travel and keeping the Emperor alive on the Golden Throne. Their members are oftentimes forcibly conscripted children who have just barely survived being lynched on their homeworld, and were lucky enough not to be mulched into Emperor Food or Astronomicon fuel. Even so, the process to become a sanctioned psyker is physically and emotionally scaring, and can still lead to a grizzly death via headsplosion, possession, or just losing complete control of your sanity. Grimdark.
* [[Astronomican|Adeptus Astronomican]] - The organization charged with maintaining the light of the Astronomican, the psychic beacon for traveling through the [[Warp]]. Sacrifices assloads of psykers every day to keep the Astronomican running and literally the only thing keeping the entire Imperium from winking out like a candle. Grimdark.
* [[Imperial Knight]]s - The Imperial Knights are the lords of feudalistic worlds where the rulers and the military forces are one and the same, piloting massive combat mecha into battle to defend their worlds or to aid the Imperium. Usually have strong ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Grimdark.
* [[Squat]]s - A [[Dwarf|dwarfish]] race of technologically advanced [[abhuman]]s descended from mining colonists on high gravity planets, their worlds were the only other independent Imperial worlds besides Admech's forge worlds prior to integration into the Imperium from the Tyranids war. Their forces complemented that of the Adeptus Mechanicus' and the [[Imperial Guard]], with a tendency towards [[Colossus War Machine|giant-sized]] [[Land Train|war]] [[Goliath Mega-Cannon|machines]]. Their populations are now greatly diminished due to various reasons. Grimdark.

==Reasons it sucks to live in the Imperium==
{{heresy}}
{{Topquote|Call no man happy until he is dead.|Thought for the day. Also Aeschylus}}
[[File:Lord General.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Imperial Guard generals are some of the sexiest men alive, <s>and the worst part is that almost all of them are celibate</s> Lies, all lies!...On an unrelated note, this is one of [[Dawn of War 2#Imperial Guard|General Castors]] earlier designs.]]
* The High Lords of Terra are brutal and manipulative.
* The Adeptus Arbites make Judge Dredd seem reasonable.
* Thinking about nothing is the only way to survive. Unless you think about the steely musculature and long, shimmering hair of the Emperor.
* The Hive World you almost certainly live on is an overcrowded shithole where being able to breathe non-recycled air is a luxury.
* Thinking about nothing implies you're thinking, and thinking is '''HERESY'''.
* You are constantly under attack by Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, the forces of Chaos, Space Communists, etc.
* If you mutate, you will be at best shunned, but most likely killed, and even death is not the worst case scenario.
* Voices in your sleep keep telling you that Chaos is great, at which point an Inquisitor kills you whether you resist the temptations or not.
* Priests keep telling you the Imperium is great and then report you for not attending the entirety of your third mass service of the designated planetary worship day, at which point you are executed by local law enforcement.
* If you aren't in the Navy you are in the Imperial Guard, which means you will either die painfully on the battlefield or be executed by a Commissar for not being loyal enough to die on the battlefield. Seriously, many worlds hold your funeral the day before departure, people mourn your passing while you are standing next to them, and you are considered to be already dead.
* Your planetary governor is incompetent, ruthless, heretical or just very greedy (if you're lucky). Any that aren't are rarer than an Ork that doesn't WAAAAGH!, and either dead or about to be killed by one or more of the Imperium's enemies (or someone else from the Imperium).
* Even if you DO win the war via sheer hard-work, chances are that you are sterilized and shipped to a labor camp because you MIGHT have the taint of Chaos. And killed.
* Your whole life consists of working your ass off with no hope of social advancement. Unless you're a noble, in which case nothing in this list applies to you anyway.
* You can be executed for taking incorrect care of your gun and angering the Machine Spirit. And that assumes the Machine Spirit doesn't kill you first.
* Loyalist Space Marines never get laid, eve-{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|+ This article's approved author has been seized by the local authorities for [[heresy]]. Please again, report all known contacts and co-conspirators to your local [[Commissar]]. ++ You may resume reading this article with an even more approved author. +}}

* If you happen to be an Inquisitor, you are expected to watch whatever you order. Vomiting is '''HERESY'''.
* Technology scares you. Not much of a change, though is it?
* You are poor and uneducated. Isn't a change, either.
*If and when you die, the chances that anyone will ever give a shit about your death are nearly nonexistent. Again, nor much of a change there either.
* The Orks might eventually (re)unite and destroy the Imperium.
* The Necrons will eventually awaken and might destroy the Imperium.
* Chaos cannot be defeated and will probably destroy the Imperium sooner or later.
* Tyranids are pouring in from nearly all sides of the galaxy and will probably destroy the Imperium through the power of OMNOM.
* If you're not dead in the Guard, dead in the Navy, very dead in the PDF, or dead as a civilian, you're a heretic and alien-sympathizer. Therefore executed, and therefore dead.
* The Imperium routinely cleanses Xeno species. So if you're a wandering Eldar Craftworld or even a minor xenos race on a conquered planet expect no sympathy or even a quick death.
* Independence is nonexistent, and the Imperium has even destroyed two perfectly healthy, anti-chaos empires called Adrantis Five and Interex, granted the second one they destroyed thanks to Chaos bullshit, [[derp|whoops!]]
** The first was due to a mis-identification by over-eager Imperial Psychotic Killers, and given that the second was a civilization that had a race who created Chaos artifacts, including the big one that led to Horus' corruption, that's arguably a good thing since they might as well have been a ticking time bomb.
* Incompetence is also nonexistent, and if you show competence, you are imbued by the Chaos Gods and therefore executed for Heresy.
* Thinking ANY model is sexy is obvious heresy.
* And let's not even get started on what it's like if you're on the wrong side of the [[Great Rift]].
* Either you work, or you die. It's that simple. SO BACK TO THE MANUFACTORUMS AND STOP READING NOW!!!
**If by some shred of luck you don't get executed for dereliction of duty, then the lasgun you didn't make while slacking off meant that a Guard Regiment got equipped too late to be deployed to save your world.

==However, is the Imperium really ''that'' bad?==
[[File:8eb60203712e469761aeba78ec3c78ec-d7904b7.jpg|350px|thumb|left|Because the only way to keep a [[Roman Empire|stagnating empire]] alive is with excessive force (Ah, but where's the Roman Empire now?) Also, note the [[Imperator Titan|walking cathedral]] several miles in the background that's still bigger than the [[baneblade]] at the front.]]

{{Topquote|[[Noblebright|A line must be drawn between what is good and what is evil]], for if the [[Chaos|Great Enemy]] comes with offers of power to a wretch, what reason does he have to refuse hell if he dwells in it already?|[[Roboute Guilliman|Robu]] telling [[Dante|Luis]] the most obvious thing yet apparently missed for ten millennia of imperial history.}}

However, as said before, if you excuse GW's initial promotion that life in the Imperium must be "Tough and Dark", then average life in the Imperium for the common Joe is for all intents and purposes, uncomfortable and highly unpleasant, but ultimately tolerable for its people (as opposed to those of us in M3 who would likely lack the temperament or the constitution to do well in such a life). This can be further explained below....

===The Reality of the Imperium===
Throughout WH40K, nearly every-single grimdark example in the fluff is shown through the narrative perspective of either Space Marines and Inquisitors whose primary job is to fight against [[Chaos|WTF-Horror Eldritch Abominations]] and [[Orks|genocidal aliens]] for every single day of their lives, or of criminals, crooks and scum such as those living within the darkest pits in Hive Worlds like [[Necromunda]]. Of which, there are only about thirty-two thousand and something hundreds in ratio to the several hundreds of thousands of Civilized Worlds which are the planetary majority in the Imperium - the odds of being born in a desolated dump is actually quite low, and if you are born there, the only thing you need to be wary of are Gang fights and Mutants, and that's only if you are dumb enough to venture in the Underhive or unlucky enough to be born <s>poor</s> there (the poor can still get labor jobs in manufactoria or wherever else or enlist in the PDF and such; worlds are never lacking for jobs needing filling or soldiers to hold the fort). Life as a Middle-Class Imperial (which are the majority in Hive Worlds) is often plain and simple (if boring and repetitive) with your average wage, average working job and with your average necessities in life such as TV (level of propaganda vary) or food (might be artificially processed), and since there is always a demand for workers at some level, unemployment ratios would actually be quite small (unlike real-life, you don't have to fear automation and new technologies taking your job and the Imperium always needs more menial laborers). If you're in the Imperial Guard, the chances of being sent into an eternal meat grinder is actually quite slim, if the Imperium's size and speed is taken into perspective. Although some policies within the Imperium would be regarded as immoral or "Crimes Against Humanity" in today's world, take note that what the Imperium does is a necessary evil. They know what they're doing is morally questionable, but they have to do it since they have no other choice and in the grim setting of WH40K, this is the only solution to be dealt with for the betterment of Humanity as a whole. Unlike every single other being in the entire setting, the Imperium actually knows its necessary evils ''are'' evil and bemoans this fact but grits its teeth and does it anyway, determined to make sure what was done has meaning and was never in vain. This is why, outside of mainstream Sci-Fi where we see Aliens or some entities destroying a planet full of people for no other reason but for the [[Lulz|evulz]], in the Imperium, you see none of that, as in their point of view, to destroy a planet without a justified cause is seen as incredibly wasteful and sinful as you are technically "Wasting the Emperor's resources" (which, ironically enough, can lead to you getting executed,so its something most people try to avoid). There is even a small Ordo of the Inquisition whose job is to investigate exterminatus (planet boom) events and determine whether or not it was justified. About eighty percent of the Inquisitors who order exterminatus are executed by this Ordo for not having sufficient justification. Keep in mind that it is almost (''almost'') unheard of for exterminatus being declared unless really anyone even in the modern day could agree the planet totally needed to die.

The Imperium is also remarkably egalitarian. For the most part, regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you can reach unimaginable heights if you have the right combination of smarts, strength, faith and luck. Space Marine chapter masters were once feral tribesmen or underhive scum, great heroes of the Imperial Guard have come from death worlds, prisons or dead end jobs in hives. Inquisitors come from almost any background imaginable, and are some of the most powerful individuals in the Imperium, and can even sit as one of the High Lords of Terra. The only thing that actually blocks social mobility is the difficulty of standing out against countless trillion other humans on a million worlds. This is implied to be partially intentional as a way to get the very best of humanity in positions of power. By and large, it works. Incompetence is actually extremely rare in the Imperium (which is why it stands out so dramatically). Unfortunately, due to the scale of everything, an incompetent in the wrong place can cause a lot of disastrous effects.

===Foreign Policy on Xenos===
For those that complain of the Imperium's genocidal stance against Aliens (especially prior to the Emperor getting stuck on the golden throne), remember that during Humanitiy's earlier years, virtually every xeno they encountered were either genocidal dickheads or sadistic assholes, so can you really blame them? Take for example, the Craftworld Eldar. On the surface, they may seem benign and offer their hand in friendship, just so you are the ones who walk into a Necron Tomb-World and lose millions where they could have done the same and possibly only lost a few hundred. Regardless, this is easier said than done and they prioritize hostile races over occasional allies. Add to that, Big.E wanted an atheistic empire starving the Chaos gods out with science (although given that the Chaos gods thrive on ''emotion itself'' just as much as worship, Big E was probably doomed from the start) all without falling into '[[Men of Iron]] II: Revenge of the Machines', and those xenos that weren't deeply religious and/or psykers tended to go the A.I. way. So in order to avoid any [[Mortarion|unnecessary questions]] and [[Magnus the Red|unhealthy curiosity]], he basically got a standing order to purge everything on sight in place. Said order was duly followed during the Great Crusade proper, but now that the expansion is over, it is applied much less zealously.

Overall, the tolerance of xenos vary on their threat to Humanity in the first place, mostly since the Imperium does have not enough resources to even deal with those that possess an actual threat (hence why Ork Charadon and Sautekh Necron empires flourish, and no new crusades are sent to bring down the Tau, despite all three being almost next door to Ultramar). If the Imperium encounters another alien civilization that's only interested in trade and does not pose an obvious threat, then the Imperium (although still strictly supervised by the Inquisition) will trade to a certain extent, via [[Diplomacy]]. Put in the fact of the Imperium's "I don't disturb you and you don't disturb me" policy to outsiders, with the fact that there are actually '''A LOT''' of Xenos living within multiple Imperium Worlds contrary of popular opinion, and the fact that the majority of the wars that Humanity has fought was on the defense then the offense (of course this depends wholeheartedly on the Imperium's mood in the first place); you would then realize that on a whole, the Imperium is actually tolerant insofar as it doesn't destroy xenos races right away if they aren't an immediate threat.

An excellent way to understand the Imperium's policies toward aliens is seen in the [[The War of The Beast]] novel series, as it portrays some xenos-sympathizers and populations subjected to them. Ultimately, with threats like Chaos, genestealers, and countless other malevolent forces at large in the galaxy, the Imperium's intolerance is born of crucial necessity, with the xenophobia growing out of it as a by-product. The Imperium cannot afford to be accepting of alien influence and ideas, because you just never know what might be sneaking in with it, and they learned that through painful experience. What might be dismissed as innocent and inconsequential can (and often does) lead to the downfall of entire worlds. The only reason the Tau can act like they can openly befriend the whole galaxy is because they are naively unaware of all of what's out there and what they're potentially inviting in and run the risk of learning the same lessons the Imperium did the hard way. That much has been pointed out by both [[Farsight]] and [[Ciaphas Cain]]. Even with all the above, the Imperium is focused on survival above all else, and if that means working with xenos they may very well do so. [[Roboute Guilliman]] can testify to that, given that said xenos played a major role in his revival.

Besides all of this, the Imperium isn't going around just blamming every species even when it can for a simple reason: the Imperium is not evil. The Imperium is not a murderer, it is not insane, and it tries to be honorable as much as is feasible. Killing a species when it is unnecessary is murder and is definitely dishonorable. The Imperium is a civilization, and is as “civilized” as it can be in the reality it finds itself in. They hate all aliens, even those whom they have accepted as protectorates, allies, neutral, or simply "we live on the same planet, don't mess with us and we won't kill you". However, the Imperium understands the difference between understandable hatred and actually acting on that hatred against beings whose extermination is not necessary. Heck, there are plenty of people whoever is reading this might hate, but you don't go around kill them, do you? Exactly.

===Character development at meta level===

From a meta point of view the evolution of the Imperium reflects that of the franchise and the company's interest and capabilities, back in the 80s during the Rogue Trader GW writers didn't bother too much about the possible ramifications of their character profiles, they were after all doing things for kids which wanted something cool and funny; morality, rationale and introspection didn't really have that much of a priority, at best there was a lot of parody with a pinch of political commentary inherent in british pop culture.

As editions moved the Imperium went from a glam-coloured 80s feudal cyberpunk place for adventures, fun and profit to the stage were the "Grimdark" entered in full effect, think of it a bit like a child turning into a teenager who wants to sound cool a deep, edginess was the order of the day for the Third Edition, this is from where a lot of the dystopian stuff we all know and love came from, Battlefleet Gothic with their slave-powered ships is a great example, the original portrayal of the necrons as eldritch horrors directed by the C'tan are born from this edition too, it was the lowest point of characterization for the Imperium in terms of dark induced apathy.

Gradually, thanks in great part to the efforts of Black Library writers and the simple fact many fans were already adults who wanted something more "elaborate" the Imperium started to gain their humane elements, the Gaunt Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain put in evidence that no, not everyone in the Imperial Guard were zealots and jerkasses, Uriel Ventris and other SM portrayals allowed the Adeptus Astartes to win back their heroic aspect and while Matt Ward broke a lot of the old fluff he allowed for factions such as the Necrons to become something more than a horde of metallic zombies.

The case of commissar Cain is special, some people didn't like to consider him canon as he broke with the overall idea of grimdarkness, he starts as an anomaly, a secretly epicurean, self-loathing character capable of decent and even heroic acts as well as abject fear who visits worlds which suddenly are not hells on earth, through his eyes we see both military and civilians who are, despite the obvious and obligatory cultural dissonances, humans with their loves, hatreds, good intentions and limitations, enjoying life whenever they can and showing commodities and services which shouldn't exist in the grim darkness of the far future, this sudden injection of humanity shakes a great deal of the fanbase perception of the Imperium, they suddenly discover this galactic warring monster is quite more than a stage for endless dystopian war, suddenly imperials have a great deal more to fight for than debased ideology, they are fighting for survival, and that survival can allow for something more than slave-work at factories alternated with unending sermons, behind the facade of the fanatic and the mad you find reality ensues, ruthlessness with your own is a ticket for friendly fire incidents, even the staunchest sororitas has a pension to think of and the administratum is not totally filled of incompetent people.

Gaunt's Ghost work in tandem with Ciaphas Cain to add more humanity to the Imperium, the Tanith First and Only are people, they remember their world of forest and stone cities destroyed, they clearly see their memory as something worth fighting for, and while they are loyal to the Imperium they will notice when there is something unfair and, if possible, deal with it, even at terminal strength, while Colonel-Commissar may be in the minority of competent commanders he and other characters in HQ put in evidence you can't run a military force purely with lash and bolt-pistol, at least not totally, like many real-life regimes you still need a sandwich as well as a shotgun to deal with people, remove the sandwich, use the shotgun too much and you will eventually find the dog bitting back.

The Horus Heresy series helped too, as the origins of the Imperium were vastly expanded and explained, allowing for a better understanding of the choices taken by both loyalists and traitors, the Emperor in particular lost their portrayal of a perfect being and finally was revealed to be a more human character, with great inentions but ultimately flawed and capable of failure. This also allowed for a better understanding of how the Imperium became so religious, repressive and authoritian despite, or perhaps, because Big E original plans to fight the Chaos Gods by starving them, the primarchs background was further explored and the tragedy behind their fall became now a known narrative, all these aspects adding a "depth of field".

With the return of Guilliman in the last editions we finally come to a point where the Imperium as an entity recovers, or more exactly gains, its capability for self-criticism, and with it a gut-punching self-awareness, we see through Guilliman's eyes the vast gears of traditionalist government, the monumental historic inertia pushing things to the brink, the continuous and terrible technological, economic and social degradation mankind has been subjected for centuries fueled by terrible wars of extinction.

From such capability to see these flaws is that the desire to break with this unending cycle of darkness is born, for the first time we see the chance of reform not born from Tzeentchian influence or Xenos infiltration, stable (so far) technological advancement finally happens, the character of Belisarius Cawl comes to mind, he is certainly a maverick, his relation with Guilliman and his subordinates is interesting, he knows his own value and dares others on the Imperium's side in a way which reminds a bit of the oldest editions where Rogue Traders went to strange and extravagant adventures, but we also see his backstory, what eventually shaped in his current self, his manias and hopes, no longer just "the tech support guy who knows how to fix the server", but a person, someone who can go talk face to face with Guilliman.

And hence in the Imperium of this modern age ancient traditional powers find themselves checked, not to say this brave new messiah in blue is not without his limits and contradictions, more than once Guilliman has to recognize his own mistakes, and he is still blind to others, and some things he attempts don't end well, and while the situation has become more critical than ever since, perhaps, the Horus Heresy, the Imperium and characters such as his "Uncrowned King" as narrative entities finally recover their potential for the humane. The Imperium is still a place of unending war and misery, en epic saga with many elements of cosmic horror history, but with a glimpse of a path to, in words of Black Library "Salvation".

==Anthems of the Imperium of Man==
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duYoKxb0IeI - The anthem of the Imperium of the 41st Millennium.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM_c_avPlx4 - Battle anthem of the Adeptus Astartes

==See Also==
* [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)]], for their slightly less grimdark and '''much''' smaller scale alleged Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Skaven|The Underempire]] for their ''actual'' Warhammer Fantasy counterpart.
* [[Azyr]] for their [[noblebright]] [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]] counterpart.

==Summary==
[[grimdark|In the grim dark future of the 41st Millennium, there is only bleak, grim, black, hopeless, dismal, barren, gloomy, gray, joyless, dour, dreary, dark, cheerless, glum, oppressive, somber, grim darkness. And the sugar beet/cane is extinct.]]
[[File:DAoT.jpg|580px|center|thumb|What the Imperium would likely look like if the Mechanicus ever decided to get their head out of their collective ass. Except there would be skulls and gothic architecture everywhere (which is automatically superior in every way to stupid shiny smooth shit).]]
[[File:1342123121.jpg|580px|center|thumb|Ah, much better...]]

==External Link==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MeVxKZBOfM The history of the Imperium in about a minute and a half.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUrSQNSN6_c The Story of the Imperium in a musical piece] - [[Great Crusade|Slow start that]] [[Horus Heresy|soon erupts into allout badassery]] [[Time of Ending|and is quenched in a desperate last stand against the mighiest threats,]] [[Grimdark|before it flickers and dies...]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHSvSZ-UEFc An (arguably) more optimistic but no less brutal take on the eternal Imperium and its history. Times of majesty, times of destruction, times of glory, times of despair, they all alternate and repeat with the one endless constant of war.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csu6vbWA-YQ A new song to herald the trying time of the Imperium] - [[Black Crusade|A slow, malevolent start]] [[Great Rift|to capture the spread of evil]] [[Cadia|over the closest thing to good in the universe]] [[Belisarius Cawl|followed by]] [[Saint Celestine|faint whispers of]] [[Roboute Guilliman| hope]] [[Indomitus Crusade|that erupts in an enormous cresendo,]] [[grimdark|before fading with a quiet whine.]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1CQ7Vwz8Eo the Imperium of man's theme song, less serious, more accurate perhaps.]

{{Imperium}}
{{Template:40k-Governments}}
[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

The Imperium of Man

2020-06-13T04:13:07Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: Undo revision 664259 by 2601:197:B7F:E0C0:ECC6:61A0:1FBE:AF39 (talk)

The Imperium of Man

2020-06-13T04:12:50Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: Undo revision 664260 by 2601:197:B7F:E0C0:ECC6:61A0:1FBE:AF39 (talk)

/k/

2020-06-12T21:38:10Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E:

[[File:Kommando komputah.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A /k/omrade sitting at his /k/omputer.]]

{{topquote|Don't eat the brownies|a good piece of advice when meeting /k/ommandos IRL}}

Bunch of crazy motherfuckers who have a thing for [[Dakka|guns]] and [[Choppa|blades]], their heresy is clips and gun laws, and their archenemies are Feinstein and Hillary. They are also obsessed with [[Slaanesh|traps]]. These fuckers will bring up ideas and do stupid shit that is somewhere between [[All Guardsmen Party]] and [[Orks|retarded British space hillbillies]].

/k/ loves the WH40K universe, given it's theme and weapons. They find it easy to appreciate the weaponry of 40k be anything from contemporary [[stubber]]s (no shit, they like [[firearm|guns]]), [[flamer]]s, and [[autogun]]s to the futuristic [[lasgun]]s, [[hellgun]]s, [[Melta]]s, [[Plasma]] guns, [[Bolter]]s, all the way up to space battleship weaponry like the [[Nova Cannon]], [[Lance]]s, and broadside cannons. This isn't to forget the appreciation they have the gear that the [[Imperial Guard]] and [[Space Marines]] pack (like [[Power Armor]] and Carapace armor, as well as those of other factions. Most will appreciate Imperial Guard regiments, from the WWI/WWII style [[Death Korps of Krieg]] to the manly [[Catachan Jungle Fighters]] to the highly tactical, well equipped, and elite [[Harakoni Warhawks]], [[Militarum Tempestus]] and Kasrkin. Given their appreciation of common sense (for the most part), they'd probably appreciate the [[Raptors (Chapter)]], [[Raven Guard]], and [[Reasonable Marines]].

As with that, they also love the Fallout series and aren't beyond the enjoyment of /k/ related /tg/ topics.

<gallery>
File:Zergface.PNG|Zergface, /k/'s mascot.
File:Stormbolter IRL.jpg|How to make your very own Stormbolter
File:-k-'s magic fun house.jpg| Art of the Traps, by /k/
File:Our_Lord_and_Savior.jpg| /k/'s god. Which they admit they stole from Khorne.[https://kweapons.fandom.com/wiki/Glorious_Murder_Cube]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[[Lasgun]]
*[[Autogun]]
*[[Boltgun]]
*[[Firearm]]

[[Category:4chan]]

/k/

2020-06-12T21:36:20Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: /* See Also */ nice try

[[File:Kommando komputah.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A /k/omrade sitting at his /k/omputer.]]

{{topquote|Don't eat the brownies|a good piece of advice when meeting /k/ommandos IRL}}

Bunch of crazy motherfuckers who have a thing for [[Dakka|guns]] and [[Choppa|blades]], their heresy is clips and gun laws, and their archenemies are Feinstein and Hillary. They are also obsessed with [[Slaanesh|traps]]. These fuckers will bring up ideas and do stupid shit that is somewhere between [[All Guardsmen Party]] and [[Orks|retarded British space hillbillies]].

/k/ loves the WH40K universe, given it's theme and weapons. They find it easy to appreciate the weaponry of 40k be anything from contemporary [[stubber]]s (no shit, they like [[firearm|guns]]), [[flamer]]s, and [[autogun]]s to the futuristic [[lasgun]]s, [[hellgun]]s, [[Melta]]s, [[Plasma]] guns, [[Bolter]]s, all the way up to space battleship weaponry like the [[Nova Cannon]], [[Lance]]s, and broadside cannons. This isn't to forget the appreciation they have the gear that the [[Imperial Guard]] and [[Space Marines]] pack (like [[Power Armor]] and Carapace armor, as well as those of other factions. Most will appreciate Imperial Guard regiments, from the WWI/WWII style [[Death Korps of Krieg]] to the manly [[Catachan Jungle Fighters]] to the highly tactical, well equipped, and elite [[Harakoni Warhawks]], [[Militarum Tempestus]] and Kasrkin. Given their appreciation of common sense (for the most part), they'd probably appreciate the [[Raptors (Chapter)]], [[Raven Guard]], and [[Reasonable Marines]].

As with that, they also love the Fallout series and aren't beyond the enjoyment of /k/ related /tg/ topics.

They also unironically worship the 2nd amendment. As a result, they are one of the main causes of mass shootings, rivaled only by [[/pol/]] as much as they try to deny it.

<gallery>
File:Zergface.PNG|Zergface, /k/'s mascot.
File:Stormbolter IRL.jpg|How to make your very own Stormbolter
File:-k-'s magic fun house.jpg| Art of the Traps, by /k/
File:Our_Lord_and_Savior.jpg| /k/'s god. Which they admit they stole from Khorne.[https://kweapons.fandom.com/wiki/Glorious_Murder_Cube]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[[Lasgun]]
*[[Autogun]]
*[[Boltgun]]
*[[Firearm]]

[[Category:4chan]]

Slime

2020-06-12T20:58:19Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: /* Pre-3rd Edition */

[[File:The gelatinous green cube by shockbolt.jpg|500px|thumbnail|right|[[Halfling]] [[Rogue]] rolled a 1 to Intelligence...or should it be Wisdom? Or maybe both?]]

{{topquote|A slime draws near!|Every Dragon Quest game ever}}

The '''Slime''', also known as the '''Ooze''', the '''Gel''', the '''Jelly''', or the '''Goo''', is a humble form of monster that pops up in absolutely ''every'' frigging fantasy setting you can imagine, and even a few science-fiction settings. It is most famous in tabletop games for its many diffuse forms in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and in videogames for [[/v/|Dragon Quest]] (in which it serves as the mascot and also has a fucking huge array of possible slime-forms), but, like we said, you can find a slime just about everywhere if you look.

Slimes are usually low to middle tier threat levels; they are mindless masses of animate sludge, and some higher-level variants may be made of elemental matter, such as water, "liquid ice", magma, molten steel, etc. They have no culture or higher purposes, they just ooze around eating anything organic they touch and growing bigger until they have to divide. Hardly likely to outwit most adventurers, but many games make them fairly resistant to certain kinds of attack, especially physical ones, so just assuming they're harmless is a good way to get dissolved. One prominent commenter described fighting a slime as "playing a terrifying game of 'guess the immunity'," referencing to the fact that unless you have your appropriate Monster Manuals memorised, you can rarely predict what will kill a slime variety outright. And guessing wrong can sometimes be worse than not trying, because using the ''wrong'' damage type can cause the slime in question to get stronger or divide into more slimes. And what they are or are not vulnerable to isn't always consistent between editions. A lot of them are also [[Gotcha Monster]]s because of their use of camouflage or near invisibility. This is often enforced by their slow speed that ensure an unsupported ooze can simply be fled from. Their lack of biological needs aside from hunger (solved by dropping scraps to them) means they are often used as part of mundane traps, like an ooze at the bottom of a pit trap.

==Slimes in Dungeons and Dragons==
===Pre-3rd Edition===
* Gelatinous Cube: Perhaps the most notorious slime to come out of the tabletop game field is the gelatinous cube, a D&D monstrosity that takes the form of a huge cube-shaped mass of near-translucent gray or green jelly, perfectly sized for oozing through the typical dungeon corridor as a living, insurmountable barrier. It was originally created by Gary Gygax as a joke, being the exact size of one grid square. Like the [[Rust Monster]] and [[Owlbear]], it's one of those absurdities that everyone pokes fun at, but which has too much nostalgic fondness from the fanbase for anyone to seriously consider getting rid of it. Later, fortunately, it ''did'' come with a half-assed explanation: wizards breed them as living janitorial services to clean the garbage out of the perfectly-square corridors of their evil dungeons. As it's also mostly-transparent, save for the dissolving bits of armor floating in it like fruit in a jello dessert, walking straight into it only to be engulfed is an occupational hazard for dungeon-delvers. It has a paralyzing touch. Its weaknesses vary depending on the edition.

* Black Pudding / Deadly Puddings: Has nothing to do with the food called black pudding - this one has come to take Sam Tarly. Comes in other colors besides black, depending on what environment they are found in. All of the different colors are called Deadly Puddings. Can split if hit by weapons or lightning. Black puddings can dissolve organic material and metal. White puddings look identical to ice and snow and can instantly dissolve organic matter. Dun puddings live in deserts and can instantly dissolve leather, and can also eat metal. Brown puddings live in marshes and can instantly dissolve leather and wood. Stone puddings, grey puddings, and dense puddings all live underground. Stone puddings are slow moving and attack by dropping on prey from the ceiling, but can only dissolve flesh. Grey puddings can dissolve leather, wood, and metal, including magical armor, but they also are vulnerable to certain spells. Dense puddings are smarter than other puddings and infect people they attack with a debilitating disease, but are slower and not well camouflaged because of their blue color but they can only dissolve living flesh.

* Grey Ooze: Can rapidly corrode non magical metal similarly to a Rust Monster, but cannot dissolve stone. Is immune to cold and fire. Can camouflage itself as a puddle of water. In 5th edition they can sometimes develop the ability to use psychic attacks. Grey oozes are completely different in 4th edition. They have a foul smell that give an attack penalty and their acid attack can melt your bones.

* Green Slime: Green slimes are mostly immobile and are more similar to plants. Their only attack that they have is dropping on people who walk under them. Anybody who touches one will turn into one if they are not cured quickly. They are vulnerable only to fire, cold, and cure disease spells. They can eat through both metal and wood. The Green Slime returned in 4th edition but heavily changed. It is no longer immobile or able to infect people with a touch, but still prefers to surprise enemies by dropping on them. It is weak against fire and light. Green Slime returns again in 5th edition, but is now classified as a dungeon hazard instead of a monster and so doesn't have stats, though its traits are similar to how it behaved in early editions. It destroys metal and organic material on contact and can be destroyed by sunlight, anything that cures disease, or anything that does fire, cold, or radiant damage.

* Ochre Jelly: Similar to a black pudding but somewhat weaker. Only dissolves flesh. Can split if hit by weapons or lightning.

* Crystal Ooze: Native to the caverns of the Plane of Earth, these crystalline slimes usually subsist on the minerals found in rocks with the oldest being fuck hueg. While they're content to just leech what they need from their surroundings, Crystal Oozes will attack any living creature for the minerals in them and they're no push-overs either. Their slam attacks deal piercing and slashing damage and can crit on rolls of 18-20. They also give off a Subsonic Hum that can stun an opponent while the Ooze slithers over and engulfs them at their leisure. If the victim fails their Fortitude save, they become petrified and a new Crystal Ooze pops out in 1d4 hours. They're immune to the cold and electricity and resist fire; however, their bodies can shatter and split from bludgeoning and sonic attacks. Crystal oozes are completely different in second edition D&D. Instead, they are a variant of grey ooze that lives underwater and corrodes organic material, but not metal. Weapons can only deal 1 point of damage to a crystal oozes.

* Slithering Tracker: An intelligent slime that is nearly transparent. It paralyzes victims and slowly drains them of plasma. They are said to be created from humanoids who willingly gave up their forms to get revenge on somebody they hated.

* Mustard Jelly: What happens when an idiot wizard tries to polymorph into an Ochre Jelly. It produces poisonous fumes that smell like mustard and slow down those who breathe them in. It is intelligent and can split in two at will, instead of splitting when hit with weapons. It cannot climb up walls or squeeze through tight spaces like ochre jellies can. It is immune to normal weapons, takes half damage from cold and the magic missile spell heals it, and it can eat through wood.

* Olive Slime: A plant like slime similar to the green slime, but even more dangerous. Like the green slime it is immobile and attacks by dropping on people that walk under it, and it produces a venom that causes numbness so the victim may not even notice the attack. It possesses the victims it infects and slowly eats them from the inside out, turning them into plant like zombies that melt into olive slime when they die, and can spread the infection. It is immune to everything except acid, fire, cold, and cure disease spells, and spells that affect plants. The zombies are the same except they are weak to magic missile instead of cure disease. If a olive slime meets a green slime then one of them will destroy the other.

* Stunjelly: Similar to a gelatinous cube. It disguises itself as a stone wall, although remains semi transparent. It has most of the same weaknesses as a gelatinous cube, except that cold affects it normally.

* Aballin: Also known as "living water", aballins are a type of slime that resembles a pool of stagnant water, strangely devoid of life and full of metals like coins and armor. Despite looking like water, Aballins are composed of a weak acid, which it uses to digest their victims after wrapping around their heads and drowning them (which means water breathing is pointless). Due to their semi-liquid bodies, they prefer to live in water but slither like slugs (up to a 30 degree slope). Unlike most other slimes, its roughly as smart as a wild animal and can learn to hunt its prey. Legend has it that the first was a druid polymorphed by an archwizard's curse. They are immune to fire, cold, and electricity, but are vulnerable to spells that affect water, and when they are pretending to be a pool of water they cannot be harmed by anything that wouldn't affect a pool of water. They also cannot be damaged by piercing and slashing weapons, and if you try there is a chance you will hit the person the aballin is trying to drown instead.

* Lava Ooze: An ooze made of lava. They are immune to fire and vulnerable to cold. In third edition, it consumes metal and stone, but cannot digest gems, which become stuck its body until it is killed.

* Ghaunadan: An shapechanger that serves the god [[Ghaunadaur]] whose true form resembles an ooze but also can transform into a either a male human or a female [[Drow]] (So yes, this means that [[#Monstergirls|slimegirls]] are totally canon in D&D). In humanoid form they have a charming gaze and in ooze form their attacks cause paralysis. They are resistant to blunt weapons and while in ooze form can disarm enemies by trapping their weapons in its body.

* Flareater: A slime that likes to drop on prey from the ceiling. They are mobile unlike green slimes. While they can eat flesh, their favorite foods are light sources. They can increase their hitpoints by consuming both magical and non-magical light sources, and split when they reach enough hitpoints. They are immune to damage from light, heat, and fire, although long term sun exposer will kill them, and they are paralyzed by cold damage.

===3rd/3.5 Edition===

* Bone Ooze: A massive ooze that feeds by sucking people's bones out. Its insides are filled with sharp bone shards and they're stupidly deadly.

* Flesh Jelly: A blob of flesh covered in a layer of skin. It grows by absorbing living creatures. Touching one can infect you with a disease called filth fever. [[Luke|It also has an overwhelmingly foul smell]].

* Reason Stealer: An unintelligent ooze with a craving for intelligence. When it delivers a killing blow it steal the victim's mind, gaining their stats, feats, skills, and prepared arcane spells for 24 hours, after which it becomes mindless again.

* Teratomorph: A reality warping slime. Although it is neutral aligned like most slimes it has a lot of chaotic abilities. Its touch can, at random, weaken your stats, polymorph you, make it stick to you, or, if you are really unlucky, instantly absorb you. It randomly opens portals to other planes in the area around it. It also warps the environment around it, making attacks and dexterity checks more difficult, and has a chance of hitting everything around it with two random spells. It has the ability to detect law. It is immune to chaotic spells, lightning, and acid. Weapons have a chance of completely missing due to the section of its body you are attacking suddenly shifting to another dimension before you hit it unless it is affect by a dimensional anchor.

* Arcane Ooze: Is immune to spells and can steal spells from arcane spellcasters to give themselves temporary hitpoints. Magical acid attacks heal them, and magical lightning attacks speed them up.

* [[Living Spells|Living Spell]] (Template): One of the newer additions to the family. Originating in ''Eberron'''s Mournlands, one of many results of the Day of Mourning, but since adapted to "generic" D&D Living spell is a template that is applied to one or more spells instead of a creature to make a creature based on that spell or spells. It is always typed as an ooze. Enemies that are slammed or engulfed by the living spell are affected as though they were hit by the spell or spells it is based on. Living spells are also very resistant to magic. In 5th edition they are classified as constructs instead of oozes.

* Snowflake Ooze: A snow like ooze that live in cold climates and inflicts cold damage. It is immune to cold and vulnerable to fire, piercing attack have a chance of harmlessly passing through it, and bludgeoning attacks cause it to split.

* Summoning Ooze: A inteligent living summoning circle created by a summoning ritual gone wrong. It has the ability to cast summon monster spells. Immune to acid and fire.

* Bloodfire Ooze: An evil ooze made out of burning hot blood. It is created through ritually mixing the blood of 100 good or neutral humanoids with a demon's ichor. Is immune to fire and resistant to acid and electricity, and vulnerable to cold. It attacks with fire, and can empower fire spells cast within 60 feet of it.

* Corrupture: An amphibious ooze made of acidic liquid flesh that appears in areas where nature has been defiled by magic or pollution and attacks by spraying acid.

* Conflagration Ooze: An intelligent ooze that attacks with a poison that causes your insides to burst into flame. Is immune to fire and vulnerable to cold. Some of them also explode when they die.

* Graveyard Sludge: A slime made of necrotic energies and powered by the souls of the dead.When powerful necromancy is used around the dead, usually at graveyards during rituals or a [[Lich]] accending (though a really strong spell will do), the slime is formed and begins to hunt down any corpses to feed on the spiritual energy. The energy is used to defend itself but Liches like to use them as a means to bolster themselves. Graveyard Sludges can also cast 5th level or lower spells if they've fed on enough spellcasters. Their abilities are somewhat different in third edition. Creatures that die within 20 feet of graveyard sludge come back as zombies with an acid attack. They can cause fear, and strengthen undead creatures. They are immune to acid, and they are both alive and dead, so they are healed both by heal and inflict spells.

* Bloodbloater: A tiny aquatic ooze that drinks blood and attacks in swarms. Looks like an oversized cell. Because they are a swarm, they are immune to weapons and single target spells.

* Flotsam Ooze: An aquatic ooze with a very sticky body which collects debris.

* Reekmurk: A huge black aquatic ooze that lives in the depths of the ocean or in underground lakes. They can dissolve wood and have a powerful stench. They are immune to cold, but have a vulnerability to sunlight and spells that act like sunlight.

* Ethereal Ooze: An incorporeal ooze from the ethereal plane.

* Bloodrot: Not actually a true slime, but is really a form of undead made from the remains of somebody who died by being completely dissolved in acid. Infects people with a magical disease called blood fever that causes the victim to melt into a puddle when they die which the blood rot eats. They can hide inside of the bloodstream of anyone who is infected with blood fever. They can also sense the location of anybody who is infected with blood fever within several miles, so if you escape from a battle with one but are infected then more will be attracted to you. Like many true oozes, it can split apart if hit by slashing or piercing damage.

* Brine Ooze: An ooze that lives in deserts. It either hides in salt lakes or pretends to be a pool of water. It has the ability to rapidly desiccate whatever it slams into and is immune to desiccation itself. Slashing and piercing damage causes it to split.

* Cesspit Ooze: An ooze found in impoverished urban areas that feeds on fear and misery. They form spontaneously from the corpses of people who decayed in sewage or refuse in places near strong sources of magic. Its acid can dissolve organic and metallic materials but not stone. Those who are damaged by its acid may be driven into an uncontrollable rage. They have an overwhelming stink that sickens those that get too close to it. When they die, they explode and splatter acid around them. Slashing and piercing damage makes it split. They are immune to acid and resistant to electricity and fire, but have a weakness against positive energy similar to undead creatures. It is also more intelligent that other kinds of oozes, and are considered to be chaotic evil instead of neutral unlike other oozes.

* Sentry Ooze (Template): An ooze that has been modified with magic to make it stronger and more intelligent so it can act a guardian for a dungeon.

* Welp of Zargon: Those infected by [[Zargon]]'s slime may transform into humanoid slime creatures. They deal acid damage and can also infect people with Zargon's slime. Creatures that get too close to one may be stunned by its horrific resemblance to its former self.

* Venom Ooze: A more dangerous glowing variant of the Ochre Jelly. They are immune to cold, acid, and electricity, and have the ability to poison large bodies of water.

===4th Edition===
* Slime Devil: A devil specializing in interrogation that is also an ooze. It engulfs people and asks them questions, inflicting psychic damage if they lie.

* Abolethic [[Skum]]: Sometimes when an [[Aboleth]] enslaves someone, the process goes wrong and turns them into an ooze. Abolethic Skums are invisible while in water and have an aura that makes enemies vulnerable to psychic attacks. It is a minion type enemy so it dies in one hit.

===5th Edition===
* [[Oblex]]: Has the ability to create exact copies of anyone it has eaten except for the cord of slime attaching the copies to the oblex.

===Pathfinder===
* Deathtrap Ooze: Reversing the ooze used as part of a trap gimmick, a deathtrap ooze ''is'' the trap. Able to transform into any trap with one or fewer moving part, a deathtrap ooze can pretend to be disabled and attack adventurers from the rear or attack the poor sap attempting to disable it outright, and that's assuming it's even found.
* Gunpowder Ooze: An ooze, made of gunpowder. Continuing the "guess the weakness" game above, it has vulnerability to fire but explodes and splits upon taking fire damage. It also coats people it attacks in gunpowder, making ''them'' liable to blowing up. The split and auto-combustion mean that this CR14 monster can be killed by nothing but two vials of alchemist fire creating a chain reaction of the split oozes blowing each other up. This means they're more living traps than anything.
* Hungry Flesh: An artifical ooze made of a huge pile of flesh. Thankfully they have very high nutritional needs (their own 3000 pound weight in food daily) so they'll quickly starve without support.
* Sapphire Ooze: A sapient, extraplanar, good aligned ooze that can talk?! This ooze can transform into living armor for a creature and buff things with saves against fear. Being the rare sapient ooze, they actually have a personality: [[Leeroy Jenkins|Overeager adventure seekers that often get into trouble themselves.]]
* Carnivorous Blob: Have you ever wanted to run a campaign based on the 80s version of “The Blob”? Use this, and accept no substitutes!
* Sewer Ooze: A low level ooze made of sewage that lives in the sewers under large cities.
* Slime Demon (Omox): A demon made of sewage that delights in desecrating bodies of water.

===Slime Deities===

* [[Juiblex]]: The demon lord of slimes and oozes.

* [[Ghaunadaur]]: The god of slimes and oozes, who may or may not be the same being as Juiblex.

* [[Zargon]]: An [[Elder Evils|Elder Evil]] associated with slimes.

* [[Bwimb]]: The [[Archomental]] of ooze. Got killed by [[Orcus|Tenebrous]] and replaced by his daughter Bwimb II.

==Slimes in Dragon Quest==
The slime is the mascot of the Dragon Quest video game series. Basic slimes are blue raindrop shaped creatures with cute faces. They come in a wide number of variants. One such variant are metal slimes, which give huge rewards for defeating them but are ridiculously difficult to beat due to their defensive abilities and tendency to run away before you can do any significant damage. Due to how iconic they are, [[TVTropes]] uses Metal Slime as the trope name for rare enemies in games that are tough to beat but give huge rewards. Not all slimes in the Dragon Quest are enemies. Good slimes usually introduce themselves by saying "I'm not a bad slime!"

==That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime==
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is an [[Isekai]] light novel and [[anime]], about a normal Japanese man who dies and ends up in the body of a slime in a world resembling the Dragon Quest games. Slimes in this world are normaly unintelligent and weak monsters, but this slime happens to have the most broken ability in the world: the ability to copy the skills and form of whatever they eat. They befriend a powerful dragon and become the chief of a [[Goblin]] village, which they expand into a new nation. It is actually surprisingly good by isekai standards.

==[[Monstergirl]]s==
{{Monstergirls}}
Surprisingly, slimes have long been given the [[monstergirls]] treatment: Slime Girls (also known as Goo Girls) are typically not very smart, but very affectionate and horny, and their gelatinous bodies have a ''lot'' of kinky shit they can do in the bedroom. In the more restrained versions a slime will engulf a guy while milking him dry, giving him a full body hug. This frequently results in cum floating around in the slime's body, often going towards a the slime's "heart", a core of a color that contrasts the body that is said to hold the slime's soul. It is often an erogenous zone [[/d/|because of course it is]]. In more extreme cases the slime will also penetrate the guy, engaging in stuff like sounding, or fucking him in the ass while he fucks her in the... well, [[Dark Eldar|everywhere is a hole for a Slime]]. There are also a few cases where [[vore]] starts to be involved, which would be a bit more true to nature for the slimes of D&D fame.

===MGE Slimes===
The Slime is one of the most profuse species in the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]] so far, second only to the [[Succubus]] family in terms of diverse members. The slimes of the MGE were heavily influenced by the slimes of the popular fantasy gaming series "Dragon Quest", with the Slime Queen and Slime Carrier in particular being derived from members of that series' vast array of slimes.

Your standard Slime in the MGE world is a dim-witted, happy-go-lucky aimless drifter that just squiggles around looking for a guy to sex. These stand out mostly via their blue coloration.

The Red Slime, in comparison, is smarter and more aggressive.

The green Bubble Slime has a unique chemical composition that causes her to constantly secrete bubbles of noxious-smelling gas. As a side-effect, she's no longer as sticky and cohesive as other slimes, making her grapples easier to escape. However, her substance is a powerful and addictive aphrodisiac, which eventually leaves her victim dependent upon regular ingestions of her drug-like mass. She was one of the first of the [[grimdark]] mamono.

The purple Dark Slime is an extremely powerful succubus/slime hybrid native to Demon Realms. The only slime-girl in the MGE with a core (thus far), they're also smart and predatory; they have the unique ability to corrupt human women, transforming them into new Dark Slimes, via a process that basically involves enveloping the women in their body, orgasmically digesting her alive, and then reforming her as a new slime.

Slime Queens are sometimes mistaken for normal slimes due to their being the same blue color. These slimes suffer a mutation that renders them incapable of physically dividing to reproduce like a normal slime; instead, they swell to massive proportions, and can manifest multiple slimegirl "bodies" from their central mass as they see fit, all of which are, of course, extensions of the slime's singular mind. The bigger she grows, the smarter she becomes. Kenkou Cross has asserted that there are actually Slime Queen variants for all of the standard slimes.

Sea Slimes are jellyfish-girls who live in the ocean, and so lack the shapeshifting prowess of their standard cousins.

Nureonagos are a Zipangu breed of slime whose name comes from a yokai that manifested as a soaking wet girl who comes wandering around on rainy nights. The Nureonago mamono is a slime with especially advanced mimicry abilities, allowing her to take the form of a solid human girl in clothes - but she can't deny her nature, and so always looks soaking wet.

Likewise, the Shoggoth is a slime-girl maid who specializes in shapeshifting, specifically in extruding pseudopods and shaping them into tools to help her do her various chores.

The Parasite Slime is a slime that can't take on a slime-girl form of its own, instead attacking human women and raping them until their mind breaks before using them as lures to attract human men to be their partners, turning them into the mindless fuck-puppets called "Slime Carriers". This is one of the two slimes that compete for the title of "most fucked-up mamono in the MGE".

The Humpty Egg is the ''other'' slime contender. See, in the region of the MGE world known as "Wonderland", there's a super-horny, busty and fluffy [[harpy]] species caled the Jubjub Bird. These harpies lay eggs, and if a man gets too close to an unhatched egg, there is a good chance that the unborn chick inside will become aware of his spiritual energies and react by ''bursting out of her shell as a horny [[loli]] slime-girl made of egg-guts'', essentially aborting herself to have sex faster. Consisting of a [[loli]] made up of goopy, semi-solid egg-yolk and surrounded by a malleable mass of egg-white they use to form the traditional slime pseudopods. These slimes actually lay eggs when they get pregnant, which usually hatch into new Jubjubs, but are more likely than "normal" Jubjub eggs to turn into Humpty Eggs. This species was met with considerable outcry when it was released, with even many [[loli]] fans going "seriously, dude, this is going too far!" (Was this supposed to be Rule 34 of Sanrio's Gudetama? If it is then it may be even more sick. Poor Gudetama! He doesn't deserve this.)

===Gallery===
<center>
<gallery>
File:MGE Slime.jpg|A normal slime.
File:MGE Red Slime.jpg|A red slime.
File:MGE Bubble Slime.jpg|A bubble slime.
File:MGE Dark Slime.jpg|A dark slime.
File:MGE Slime Queen.jpg|A Slime Queen.
File:MGE Shoggoth.jpg|A [[Shoggoth]].
File:MGE Nureonago.jpg|A Nurenago.
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category: Monsters]]

Slime

2020-06-12T20:55:53Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: /* Pre-3rd Edition */

[[File:The gelatinous green cube by shockbolt.jpg|500px|thumbnail|right|[[Halfling]] [[Rogue]] rolled a 1 to Intelligence...or should it be Wisdom? Or maybe both?]]

{{topquote|A slime draws near!|Every Dragon Quest game ever}}

The '''Slime''', also known as the '''Ooze''', the '''Gel''', the '''Jelly''', or the '''Goo''', is a humble form of monster that pops up in absolutely ''every'' frigging fantasy setting you can imagine, and even a few science-fiction settings. It is most famous in tabletop games for its many diffuse forms in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and in videogames for [[/v/|Dragon Quest]] (in which it serves as the mascot and also has a fucking huge array of possible slime-forms), but, like we said, you can find a slime just about everywhere if you look.

Slimes are usually low to middle tier threat levels; they are mindless masses of animate sludge, and some higher-level variants may be made of elemental matter, such as water, "liquid ice", magma, molten steel, etc. They have no culture or higher purposes, they just ooze around eating anything organic they touch and growing bigger until they have to divide. Hardly likely to outwit most adventurers, but many games make them fairly resistant to certain kinds of attack, especially physical ones, so just assuming they're harmless is a good way to get dissolved. One prominent commenter described fighting a slime as "playing a terrifying game of 'guess the immunity'," referencing to the fact that unless you have your appropriate Monster Manuals memorised, you can rarely predict what will kill a slime variety outright. And guessing wrong can sometimes be worse than not trying, because using the ''wrong'' damage type can cause the slime in question to get stronger or divide into more slimes. And what they are or are not vulnerable to isn't always consistent between editions. A lot of them are also [[Gotcha Monster]]s because of their use of camouflage or near invisibility. This is often enforced by their slow speed that ensure an unsupported ooze can simply be fled from. Their lack of biological needs aside from hunger (solved by dropping scraps to them) means they are often used as part of mundane traps, like an ooze at the bottom of a pit trap.

==Slimes in Dungeons and Dragons==
===Pre-3rd Edition===
* Gelatinous Cube: Perhaps the most notorious slime to come out of the tabletop game field is the gelatinous cube, a D&D monstrosity that takes the form of a huge cube-shaped mass of near-translucent gray or green jelly, perfectly sized for oozing through the typical dungeon corridor as a living, insurmountable barrier. It was originally created by Gary Gygax as a joke, being the exact size of one grid square. Like the [[Rust Monster]] and [[Owlbear]], it's one of those absurdities that everyone pokes fun at, but which has too much nostalgic fondness from the fanbase for anyone to seriously consider getting rid of it. Later, fortunately, it ''did'' come with a half-assed explanation: wizards breed them as living janitorial services to clean the garbage out of the perfectly-square corridors of their evil dungeons. As it's also mostly-transparent, save for the dissolving bits of armor floating in it like fruit in a jello dessert, walking straight into it only to be engulfed is an occupational hazard for dungeon-delvers. It has a paralyzing touch. Its weaknesses vary depending on the edition.

* Black Pudding / Deadly Puddings: Has nothing to do with the food called black pudding - this one has come to take Sam Tarly. Comes in other colors besides black, depending on what environment they are found in. All of the different colors are called Deadly Puddings. Can split if hit by weapons or lightning. Black puddings can dissolve organic material and metal. White puddings look identical to ice and snow and can instantly dissolve organic matter. Dun puddings live in deserts and can instantly dissolve leather, and can also eat metal. Brown puddings live in marshes and can instantly dissolve leather and wood. Stone puddings, grey puddings, and dense puddings all live underground. Stone puddings are slow moving and attack by dropping on prey from the ceiling, but can only dissolve flesh. Grey puddings can dissolve leather, wood, and metal, including magical armor, but they also are vulnerable to certain spells. Dense puddings are smarter than other puddings and infect people they attack with a debilitating disease, but are slower and not well camouflaged because of their blue color but they can only dissolve living flesh.

* Grey Ooze: Can rapidly corrode non magical metal similarly to a Rust Monster, but cannot dissolve stone. Is immune to cold and fire. Can camouflage itself as a puddle of water. In 5th edition they can sometimes develop the ability to use psychic attacks. Grey oozes are completely different in 4th edition. They have a foul smell that give an attack penalty and their acid attack can melt your bones.

* Green Slime: Green slimes are mostly immobile and are more similar to plants. Their only attack that they have is dropping on people who walk under them. Anybody who touches one will turn into one if they are not cured quickly. They are vulnerable only to fire, cold, and cure disease spells. They can eat through both metal and wood. The Green Slime returned in 4th edition but heavily changed. It is no longer immobile or able to infect people with a touch, but still prefers to surprise enemies by dropping on them. It is weak against fire and light. Green Slime returns again in 5th edition, but is now classified as a dungeon hazard instead of a monster and so doesn't have stats, though its traits are similar to how it behaved in early editions. It destroys metal and organic material on contact and can be destroyed by sunlight, anything that cures disease, or anything that does fire, cold, or radiant damage.

* Ochre Jelly: Similar to a black pudding but somewhat weaker. Only dissolves flesh. Can split if hit by weapons or lightning.

* Crystal Ooze: Native to the caverns of the Plane of Earth, these crystalline slimes usually subsist on the minerals found in rocks with the oldest being fuck hueg. While they're content to just leech what they need from their surroundings, Crystal Oozes will attack any living creature for the minerals in them and they're no push-overs either. Their slam attacks deal piercing and slashing damage and can crit on rolls of 18-20. They also give off a Subsonic Hum that can stun an opponent while the Ooze slithers over and engulfs them at their leisure. If the victim fails their Fortitude save, they become petrified and a new Crystal Ooze pops out in 1d4 hours. They're immune to the cold and electricity and resist fire; however, their bodies can shatter and split from bludgeoning and sonic attacks. Crystal oozes are completely different in second edition D&D. Instead, they are a variant of grey ooze that lives underwater and corrodes organic material, but not metal. Weapons can only deal 1 point of damage to a crystal oozes.

* Slithering Tracker: An intelligent slime that is nearly transparent. It paralyzes victims and slowly drains them of plasma. They are said to be created from humanoids who willingly gave up their forms to get revenge on somebody they hated.

* Mustard Jelly: What happens when an idiot wizard tries to polymorph into an Ochre Jelly. It produces poisonous fumes that smell like mustard and slow down those who breathe them in. It is intelligent and can split in two at will, instead of splitting when hit with weapons. It cannot climb up walls or squeeze through tight spaces like ochre jellies can. It is immune to normal weapons, takes half damage from cold and the magic missile spell heals it, and it can eat through wood.

* Olive Slime: A plant like slime similar to the green slime, but even more dangerous. Like the green slime it is immobile and attacks by dropping on people that walk under it, and it produces a venom that causes numbness so the victim may not even notice the attack. It possesses the victims it infects and slowly eats them from the inside out, turning them into plant like zombies that melt into olive slime when they die, and can spread the infection. It is immune to everything except acid, fire, cold, and cure disease spells, and spells that affect plants. The zombies are the same except they are weak to magic missile instead of cure disease. If a olive slime meets a green slime then one of them will destroy the other.

* Stunjelly: Similar to a gelatinous cube. It disguises itself as a stone wall, although remains semi transparent. It has most of the same weaknesses as a gelatinous cube, except that cold affects it normally.

* Aballin: Also known as "living water", aballins are a type of slime that resembles a pool of stagnant water, strangely devoid of life and full of metals like coins and armor. Despite looking like water, Aballins are composed of a weak acid, which it uses to digest their victims after wrapping around their heads and drowning them (which means water breathing is pointless). Due to their semi-liquid bodies, they prefer to live in water but slither like slugs (up to a 30 degree slope). Unlike most other slimes, its roughly as smart as a wild animal and can learn to hunt its prey. Legend has it that the first was a druid polymorphed by an archwizard's curse. They are immune to fire, cold, and electricity, but are vulnerable to spells that affect water, and when they are pretending to be a pool of water they cannot be harmed by anything that wouldn't affect a pool of water. They also cannot be damaged by piercing and slashing weapons, and if you try there is a chance you will hit the person the aballin is trying to drown instead.

* Lava Ooze: An ooze made of lava. They are immune to fire and vulnerable to cold. In third edition, it consumes metal and stone, but cannot digest gems, which become stuck its body until it is killed.

* Ghaunadan: An shapechanger that serves the god [[Ghaunadaur]] whose true form resembles an ooze but also can transform into a either a male human or a female [[Drow]] (So yes, this means that [[Monstergirls|slimegirls]] are totally canon in D&D). In humanoid form they have a charming gaze and in ooze form their attacks cause paralysis. They are resistant to blunt weapons and while in ooze form can disarm enemies by trapping their weapons in its body.

* Flareater: A slime that likes to drop on prey from the ceiling. They are mobile unlike green slimes. While they can eat flesh, their favorite foods are light sources. They can increase their hitpoints by consuming both magical and non-magical light sources, and split when they reach enough hitpoints. They are immune to damage from light, heat, and fire, although long term sun exposer will kill them, and they are paralyzed by cold damage.

===3rd/3.5 Edition===

* Bone Ooze: A massive ooze that feeds by sucking people's bones out. Its insides are filled with sharp bone shards and they're stupidly deadly.

* Flesh Jelly: A blob of flesh covered in a layer of skin. It grows by absorbing living creatures. Touching one can infect you with a disease called filth fever. [[Luke|It also has an overwhelmingly foul smell]].

* Reason Stealer: An unintelligent ooze with a craving for intelligence. When it delivers a killing blow it steal the victim's mind, gaining their stats, feats, skills, and prepared arcane spells for 24 hours, after which it becomes mindless again.

* Teratomorph: A reality warping slime. Although it is neutral aligned like most slimes it has a lot of chaotic abilities. Its touch can, at random, weaken your stats, polymorph you, make it stick to you, or, if you are really unlucky, instantly absorb you. It randomly opens portals to other planes in the area around it. It also warps the environment around it, making attacks and dexterity checks more difficult, and has a chance of hitting everything around it with two random spells. It has the ability to detect law. It is immune to chaotic spells, lightning, and acid. Weapons have a chance of completely missing due to the section of its body you are attacking suddenly shifting to another dimension before you hit it unless it is affect by a dimensional anchor.

* Arcane Ooze: Is immune to spells and can steal spells from arcane spellcasters to give themselves temporary hitpoints. Magical acid attacks heal them, and magical lightning attacks speed them up.

* [[Living Spells|Living Spell]] (Template): One of the newer additions to the family. Originating in ''Eberron'''s Mournlands, one of many results of the Day of Mourning, but since adapted to "generic" D&D Living spell is a template that is applied to one or more spells instead of a creature to make a creature based on that spell or spells. It is always typed as an ooze. Enemies that are slammed or engulfed by the living spell are affected as though they were hit by the spell or spells it is based on. Living spells are also very resistant to magic. In 5th edition they are classified as constructs instead of oozes.

* Snowflake Ooze: A snow like ooze that live in cold climates and inflicts cold damage. It is immune to cold and vulnerable to fire, piercing attack have a chance of harmlessly passing through it, and bludgeoning attacks cause it to split.

* Summoning Ooze: A inteligent living summoning circle created by a summoning ritual gone wrong. It has the ability to cast summon monster spells. Immune to acid and fire.

* Bloodfire Ooze: An evil ooze made out of burning hot blood. It is created through ritually mixing the blood of 100 good or neutral humanoids with a demon's ichor. Is immune to fire and resistant to acid and electricity, and vulnerable to cold. It attacks with fire, and can empower fire spells cast within 60 feet of it.

* Corrupture: An amphibious ooze made of acidic liquid flesh that appears in areas where nature has been defiled by magic or pollution and attacks by spraying acid.

* Conflagration Ooze: An intelligent ooze that attacks with a poison that causes your insides to burst into flame. Is immune to fire and vulnerable to cold. Some of them also explode when they die.

* Graveyard Sludge: A slime made of necrotic energies and powered by the souls of the dead.When powerful necromancy is used around the dead, usually at graveyards during rituals or a [[Lich]] accending (though a really strong spell will do), the slime is formed and begins to hunt down any corpses to feed on the spiritual energy. The energy is used to defend itself but Liches like to use them as a means to bolster themselves. Graveyard Sludges can also cast 5th level or lower spells if they've fed on enough spellcasters. Their abilities are somewhat different in third edition. Creatures that die within 20 feet of graveyard sludge come back as zombies with an acid attack. They can cause fear, and strengthen undead creatures. They are immune to acid, and they are both alive and dead, so they are healed both by heal and inflict spells.

* Bloodbloater: A tiny aquatic ooze that drinks blood and attacks in swarms. Looks like an oversized cell. Because they are a swarm, they are immune to weapons and single target spells.

* Flotsam Ooze: An aquatic ooze with a very sticky body which collects debris.

* Reekmurk: A huge black aquatic ooze that lives in the depths of the ocean or in underground lakes. They can dissolve wood and have a powerful stench. They are immune to cold, but have a vulnerability to sunlight and spells that act like sunlight.

* Ethereal Ooze: An incorporeal ooze from the ethereal plane.

* Bloodrot: Not actually a true slime, but is really a form of undead made from the remains of somebody who died by being completely dissolved in acid. Infects people with a magical disease called blood fever that causes the victim to melt into a puddle when they die which the blood rot eats. They can hide inside of the bloodstream of anyone who is infected with blood fever. They can also sense the location of anybody who is infected with blood fever within several miles, so if you escape from a battle with one but are infected then more will be attracted to you. Like many true oozes, it can split apart if hit by slashing or piercing damage.

* Brine Ooze: An ooze that lives in deserts. It either hides in salt lakes or pretends to be a pool of water. It has the ability to rapidly desiccate whatever it slams into and is immune to desiccation itself. Slashing and piercing damage causes it to split.

* Cesspit Ooze: An ooze found in impoverished urban areas that feeds on fear and misery. They form spontaneously from the corpses of people who decayed in sewage or refuse in places near strong sources of magic. Its acid can dissolve organic and metallic materials but not stone. Those who are damaged by its acid may be driven into an uncontrollable rage. They have an overwhelming stink that sickens those that get too close to it. When they die, they explode and splatter acid around them. Slashing and piercing damage makes it split. They are immune to acid and resistant to electricity and fire, but have a weakness against positive energy similar to undead creatures. It is also more intelligent that other kinds of oozes, and are considered to be chaotic evil instead of neutral unlike other oozes.

* Sentry Ooze (Template): An ooze that has been modified with magic to make it stronger and more intelligent so it can act a guardian for a dungeon.

* Welp of Zargon: Those infected by [[Zargon]]'s slime may transform into humanoid slime creatures. They deal acid damage and can also infect people with Zargon's slime. Creatures that get too close to one may be stunned by its horrific resemblance to its former self.

* Venom Ooze: A more dangerous glowing variant of the Ochre Jelly. They are immune to cold, acid, and electricity, and have the ability to poison large bodies of water.

===4th Edition===
* Slime Devil: A devil specializing in interrogation that is also an ooze. It engulfs people and asks them questions, inflicting psychic damage if they lie.

* Abolethic [[Skum]]: Sometimes when an [[Aboleth]] enslaves someone, the process goes wrong and turns them into an ooze. Abolethic Skums are invisible while in water and have an aura that makes enemies vulnerable to psychic attacks. It is a minion type enemy so it dies in one hit.

===5th Edition===
* [[Oblex]]: Has the ability to create exact copies of anyone it has eaten except for the cord of slime attaching the copies to the oblex.

===Pathfinder===
* Deathtrap Ooze: Reversing the ooze used as part of a trap gimmick, a deathtrap ooze ''is'' the trap. Able to transform into any trap with one or fewer moving part, a deathtrap ooze can pretend to be disabled and attack adventurers from the rear or attack the poor sap attempting to disable it outright, and that's assuming it's even found.
* Gunpowder Ooze: An ooze, made of gunpowder. Continuing the "guess the weakness" game above, it has vulnerability to fire but explodes and splits upon taking fire damage. It also coats people it attacks in gunpowder, making ''them'' liable to blowing up. The split and auto-combustion mean that this CR14 monster can be killed by nothing but two vials of alchemist fire creating a chain reaction of the split oozes blowing each other up. This means they're more living traps than anything.
* Hungry Flesh: An artifical ooze made of a huge pile of flesh. Thankfully they have very high nutritional needs (their own 3000 pound weight in food daily) so they'll quickly starve without support.
* Sapphire Ooze: A sapient, extraplanar, good aligned ooze that can talk?! This ooze can transform into living armor for a creature and buff things with saves against fear. Being the rare sapient ooze, they actually have a personality: [[Leeroy Jenkins|Overeager adventure seekers that often get into trouble themselves.]]
* Carnivorous Blob: Have you ever wanted to run a campaign based on the 80s version of “The Blob”? Use this, and accept no substitutes!
* Sewer Ooze: A low level ooze made of sewage that lives in the sewers under large cities.
* Slime Demon (Omox): A demon made of sewage that delights in desecrating bodies of water.

===Slime Deities===

* [[Juiblex]]: The demon lord of slimes and oozes.

* [[Ghaunadaur]]: The god of slimes and oozes, who may or may not be the same being as Juiblex.

* [[Zargon]]: An [[Elder Evils|Elder Evil]] associated with slimes.

* [[Bwimb]]: The [[Archomental]] of ooze. Got killed by [[Orcus|Tenebrous]] and replaced by his daughter Bwimb II.

==Slimes in Dragon Quest==
The slime is the mascot of the Dragon Quest video game series. Basic slimes are blue raindrop shaped creatures with cute faces. They come in a wide number of variants. One such variant are metal slimes, which give huge rewards for defeating them but are ridiculously difficult to beat due to their defensive abilities and tendency to run away before you can do any significant damage. Due to how iconic they are, [[TVTropes]] uses Metal Slime as the trope name for rare enemies in games that are tough to beat but give huge rewards. Not all slimes in the Dragon Quest are enemies. Good slimes usually introduce themselves by saying "I'm not a bad slime!"

==That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime==
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is an [[Isekai]] light novel and [[anime]], about a normal Japanese man who dies and ends up in the body of a slime in a world resembling the Dragon Quest games. Slimes in this world are normaly unintelligent and weak monsters, but this slime happens to have the most broken ability in the world: the ability to copy the skills and form of whatever they eat. They befriend a powerful dragon and become the chief of a [[Goblin]] village, which they expand into a new nation. It is actually surprisingly good by isekai standards.

==[[Monstergirl]]s==
{{Monstergirls}}
Surprisingly, slimes have long been given the [[monstergirls]] treatment: Slime Girls (also known as Goo Girls) are typically not very smart, but very affectionate and horny, and their gelatinous bodies have a ''lot'' of kinky shit they can do in the bedroom. In the more restrained versions a slime will engulf a guy while milking him dry, giving him a full body hug. This frequently results in cum floating around in the slime's body, often going towards a the slime's "heart", a core of a color that contrasts the body that is said to hold the slime's soul. It is often an erogenous zone [[/d/|because of course it is]]. In more extreme cases the slime will also penetrate the guy, engaging in stuff like sounding, or fucking him in the ass while he fucks her in the... well, [[Dark Eldar|everywhere is a hole for a Slime]]. There are also a few cases where [[vore]] starts to be involved, which would be a bit more true to nature for the slimes of D&D fame.

===MGE Slimes===
The Slime is one of the most profuse species in the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]] so far, second only to the [[Succubus]] family in terms of diverse members. The slimes of the MGE were heavily influenced by the slimes of the popular fantasy gaming series "Dragon Quest", with the Slime Queen and Slime Carrier in particular being derived from members of that series' vast array of slimes.

Your standard Slime in the MGE world is a dim-witted, happy-go-lucky aimless drifter that just squiggles around looking for a guy to sex. These stand out mostly via their blue coloration.

The Red Slime, in comparison, is smarter and more aggressive.

The green Bubble Slime has a unique chemical composition that causes her to constantly secrete bubbles of noxious-smelling gas. As a side-effect, she's no longer as sticky and cohesive as other slimes, making her grapples easier to escape. However, her substance is a powerful and addictive aphrodisiac, which eventually leaves her victim dependent upon regular ingestions of her drug-like mass. She was one of the first of the [[grimdark]] mamono.

The purple Dark Slime is an extremely powerful succubus/slime hybrid native to Demon Realms. The only slime-girl in the MGE with a core (thus far), they're also smart and predatory; they have the unique ability to corrupt human women, transforming them into new Dark Slimes, via a process that basically involves enveloping the women in their body, orgasmically digesting her alive, and then reforming her as a new slime.

Slime Queens are sometimes mistaken for normal slimes due to their being the same blue color. These slimes suffer a mutation that renders them incapable of physically dividing to reproduce like a normal slime; instead, they swell to massive proportions, and can manifest multiple slimegirl "bodies" from their central mass as they see fit, all of which are, of course, extensions of the slime's singular mind. The bigger she grows, the smarter she becomes. Kenkou Cross has asserted that there are actually Slime Queen variants for all of the standard slimes.

Sea Slimes are jellyfish-girls who live in the ocean, and so lack the shapeshifting prowess of their standard cousins.

Nureonagos are a Zipangu breed of slime whose name comes from a yokai that manifested as a soaking wet girl who comes wandering around on rainy nights. The Nureonago mamono is a slime with especially advanced mimicry abilities, allowing her to take the form of a solid human girl in clothes - but she can't deny her nature, and so always looks soaking wet.

Likewise, the Shoggoth is a slime-girl maid who specializes in shapeshifting, specifically in extruding pseudopods and shaping them into tools to help her do her various chores.

The Parasite Slime is a slime that can't take on a slime-girl form of its own, instead attacking human women and raping them until their mind breaks before using them as lures to attract human men to be their partners, turning them into the mindless fuck-puppets called "Slime Carriers". This is one of the two slimes that compete for the title of "most fucked-up mamono in the MGE".

The Humpty Egg is the ''other'' slime contender. See, in the region of the MGE world known as "Wonderland", there's a super-horny, busty and fluffy [[harpy]] species caled the Jubjub Bird. These harpies lay eggs, and if a man gets too close to an unhatched egg, there is a good chance that the unborn chick inside will become aware of his spiritual energies and react by ''bursting out of her shell as a horny [[loli]] slime-girl made of egg-guts'', essentially aborting herself to have sex faster. Consisting of a [[loli]] made up of goopy, semi-solid egg-yolk and surrounded by a malleable mass of egg-white they use to form the traditional slime pseudopods. These slimes actually lay eggs when they get pregnant, which usually hatch into new Jubjubs, but are more likely than "normal" Jubjub eggs to turn into Humpty Eggs. This species was met with considerable outcry when it was released, with even many [[loli]] fans going "seriously, dude, this is going too far!" (Was this supposed to be Rule 34 of Sanrio's Gudetama? If it is then it may be even more sick. Poor Gudetama! He doesn't deserve this.)

===Gallery===
<center>
<gallery>
File:MGE Slime.jpg|A normal slime.
File:MGE Red Slime.jpg|A red slime.
File:MGE Bubble Slime.jpg|A bubble slime.
File:MGE Dark Slime.jpg|A dark slime.
File:MGE Slime Queen.jpg|A Slime Queen.
File:MGE Shoggoth.jpg|A [[Shoggoth]].
File:MGE Nureonago.jpg|A Nurenago.
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category: Monsters]]

/pol/

2020-06-12T10:16:37Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: /* Notable /pol/acks */

{{Flamewar}}
{{fail}}
{{heresy}}

[[File:QnVjrKW.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]

{{topquote|Gas the kikes! [[Racial Holy War|Race war]] now!|/pol/'s battlecry}}
{{topquote|1=Gentlemen, I had a vision of the future. One day because we won [[The_World_Wars#The_First_World_War|this war]], a man called Adolf Hitler will take power and he will make a lot of people angry about the Jewry. And also romani. And also the blacks. And the non-whites. Except for the Japanese, they're honorable Aryans, I guess. Also there will be a website called 4chan.org, and there will be a board called /pol/, and it will just be about what I have described. Its kind of a [[My Little Pony|one-trick-pony, except the pony is retarded]].|2=[https://youtu.be/Tj-nCjnVDKM?t=2133 The Fresh Sorcerer's accurate summary of /pol/]}}

[[Skub]]'s final form, and the polar opposite of [[SJW]].

'''/pol/''' is 4chan's "Politically Incorrect" board, nowadays mostly <s>populated by</s> used for incarcerating <s>people who identify as</s> neo-nazis, alt-righters, ancaps, edgy contrarians, and other colorful characters who rant on Jews, black people, women, Marxists, Muslims, Christians, Atheists, and every variety of white depending on the time of day. This also entails dumb shit such as long passionate debates on whether Slavic or Southern European people count as white, or complaints about Jews causing everything from financial crises to World Wars to hurting your toe on a table leg (the phrase "[[Meme|Baton Roue]]" might come to mind).

If you ask /pol/, they'll claim to be the best and most enlightened board that can see through the lies of society, while everyone from the other boards will call their userbase arguably the most obnoxious and [[cancer]]ous board on the whole site and nothing more than a far-right [[My Little Pony|containment board to prevent them spreading their cancer elsewhere]].

People who frequent /pol/ usually refer to themselves as /pol/lacks, but much more derogatory terms have been rightfully used to describe them by people outside of /pol/ such as /pol/io, /pol/luters, /pol/tards, /pol/yps, tad/pol/es, /pol/esmokers, and /pol/tergeists. The recently coined-term alt-right has quickly become for the right what the term SJW is for the left. On that note, some SJWs and most /pol/acks aren't above having similar ''fundamental'' attitudes towards both their ideology and people who don't agree with it, which may seem odd - unless you're familiar with the idea of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory horseshoe theory] as it applies to political radical behavior, though that in itself isn't always the case.

==Origins==
...What, the above wasn't enough?

Do you REALLY want to know more about this?

...alright, fuck it. Put on the helmets and bring the bleach, this is going to be real long and real boring.

4chan's userbase is naturally the feces of the industrial society, i.e. it bred a lot of NEETs and frustrated people who are largely kept in line with entertainment and porn and economic welfare, and will [[Roman Empire|gladly support any political party as long as their needs are met, inasmuch as they don't bother thinking about anything beyond their immediate well-being]](these monsters should have [[BLAM]]ed from the very beginning). Additionally, /b/ in particular had a history of racial supremacy expressed via memetic bigotry (i.e. using "nigger" as an insult, "faggot" as an endearing word, and "jewgolds" or "shekels" as the term for money) since around 2008, prior to the Anonymous v. Scientology clashes that brought them into more of a "spotlight". Most times it was considered little more than a joke by its userbase, just another way of ensuring that people who couldn't demonstrate thick enough skin to handle the typical level of discourse on /b/ would be driven off.

However, as time went on, conservatives took such things at face value and began to show up more and more often - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1011498 it's been said that] "any community that gets its laughs by pretending to be idiots will eventually be flooded by actual idiots who mistakenly believe that they're in good company." Eventually, some of the aforementioned idiots began espousing positions that couldn't be dismissed as attempts at humor any longer, but were soon seen for the representation of their values that it really was.

...Then along came the economic housing bubble of 2009, and said NEETs found their bread and circuses were not enough in the face of concepts such as "darkening future" and "imminent poverty". And that opened Pandora's box, unleashing the suppressed anger (normally kept in check by porn, cheap entertainment and welfare) of the NEETizens of 4chan. Unsurprisingly, the first mention of the "alternative right" coincides around the bubble, with this "internal" discontent playing a part in their rise alongside the external 'friction' that social justice represented.

People can get defensive about their opinions about Kirk vs Picard or their taste in anime or opinions about Warhammer fluff or berate others for having opinions which they disagree with, but in the end that's just talking about fiction. In contrast politics is about stuff which actually matters to you in the Real World. Political discussions, especially online, are volatile things at the very best of times. Given that 4chan is '''''the''''' place where reasonable discussion goes to die, it was inevitable that even the calmest attempt at discussing politics quickly devolved into extremist arguments. Trolls and fanatics alike, in many points, became impossible to distinguish from one another - they either forgot whatever original aims they may have possessed, or else simply used those aims as a cover for something they now legitimately believed in and gained validation from.

While they gleefully embraced the Nazi accusations that both sides of a debate would make at each other - and invariably decided to supercharge the politically incorrect arguments with shitposting just to enrage their opponents further - they did all of it with only a marginal knowledge of what the issues they were arguing about even entailed at any given time, if they remotely cared at all. Thus many political arguments far too numerous to count here, from immigration to crime and race, began to take root in /b/ and quickly spread elsewhere; Moot, being the [[Tzeentch|Eternal Planner]] that he is, created /n/ (what /pol/ started as) to corral the arguments.

As you can see, [[Not as planned|it's gone swimmingly for everyone involved.]] Sort of like a multilayered monkey's paw of pure [[fail]].

===Containment Board===
[[File:Pol leaves containment.png|thumb|right|200px]]
As stated earlier, /pol/ is meant to contain the population of conservatives and stormweenies (named for Stormfront, a website that can be considered a precursor to /pol/, and whose community still overlaps with them) on 4chan. Pretty much everyone, including both Moot and most of /pol/ itself, has acknowledged this; Global rule #3 was once 'Keep /pol/ in /pol/'. The rule has since been changed to a more general version saying not to post flames, racism, off-topic replies, uncalled-for catch phrases and other things that are unhelpful to a board, but since that's what /pol/ shitposting essentially IS, the rule is still the same in spirit. Several boards have a sticky at the front page telling people to keep politics in /pol/ as well.

Though /pol/ isn't the only containment board on 4chan, the other containment boards such as /mlp/ and /soc/ are considered to have better userbases - those users have less volatile baggage and the sense to leave it ''on'' those boards. When they venture onto another board, they stay on topic and only ''occasionally'' derail threads or start inflammatory ones (complete with /tg/ [[rage|deriving]] [[lulz|entertainment]] from it), but overall aren't ''nearly'' as insufferable in comparison.

Most attempts to curb /pol/, on the other hand, result in them [[Cancer|spreading to other boards]], where they will try to de-rail the threads on those boards to whatever political event that is galvanizing them and spreading around conspiracy theories. Whenever they are told to fuck off and quit derailing threads, they will start shouting buzzwords. This hasn't stopped the board from being deleted twice throughout their history, mind, but the inevitable spread forced it to be brought back both times. Even to this day, you'll still get threads here and there that fall victim to politically-based derailing by conservatives.

==/pol/ using [[Warhammer 40,000]] as propaganda==
{{topquote|Suffer not the [[xenos]] to live!|Battle cry of the [[Deathwatch]]}}

One of the greatest [[RAGE|headaches]] that /tg/ in particular has with /pol/ is the misuse of the [[grimdark]]ness and xenophobic policies of the [[Imperium of Man]] by [[Neckbeard|Trump supporters]] including those on /pol/, who believe that he is quite literially a modern day incarnation of [[The Emperor]], and that the Western world should really become an IRL Imperium with zero tolerance against "Xenos" and "[[Tau|Cultural Marxists]]", with lots of conspiracy theories that Trump is fighting an endless battle against the "Ruinous Powers" of Liberalism supposedly led by [[Tzeentch|George Soros]]. It's basically yet another "Jews secretly controlling the world" episode on top of the usual boogeyman of "The All-Powerful Left" already invoked by many of the "cuckservatives" the alt-right railed against at their inception.

Initially, they "helped" him the only way they knew how: shitposting about [[anime]], Pepe the Frog, and [[Touhou|Momiji Inubashiri]] in a MAGA hat. One of their most widespread propaganda involving 40k was the complete stereotyping of all Muslims as [[Ork|ultraviolent savages who reproduce by the thousands and have no other instinct than to kill, maim and pillage]], Mexicans being cast [[Tyranids|an all-consuming swarm migrating to America to consume all of its resources]], and that every single one of them should be subject to [[Exterminatus]]. AS if that wasn't insulting to all parties real and fictional, eventually they finally "invented" a shitty forced meme where [[Heresy|they put Donald Trump's head on images of the great God-Emperor of Mankind]]. Not many people find them funny, even in the rare case of the Photoshop job being decent, and the Trump buzz started to fade anyway as reality promptly ensued and people realized he was largely more of the same checkers-level propaganda volleys designed to sway voters (if "[[Derp|uber-rich Conservative politician claiming to be the champion of the poor]]"[[Nazi| sounds familiar to you, anyway]]).

The new wave of French elections brought a more horrific wave of shitposting, with [[Extra Heresy|Marine le Pen being photoshopped into Sister of Battle pictures]]. However, Le Pen lost the French election by [[Fail|a 30% margin]], much to the [[Butthurt|chagrin]] of various /pol/tards. This was possibly compounded by the fact that Le Pen's campaign partly ran off the idea of a 'Frexit', only for Le Pen to abandon the entire idea post-election; between this and the Trump supporters in the userbase becoming indistiguishable from the more stereotypical ones, it proves for the umpteenth time that relying on any kind of political figurehead for overall validation is a universally bad idea.

Given 40k had its start as a ''satire'' of dystopian fiction and a bitter, ironic reflection of right-wing 80s Britain (see also: [[Rogue Trader]]), other right-wingers and conservatives as whole latching onto 40k-memery as a vehicle for demagoguery, propaganda and appeals to emotion, and further conflating it with modern politics is perhaps a schadenfreudish circle finally come complete. Without the original context, they see nothing more than an unironic heroic fantasy that validates their beliefs, rather than the proper mockery that it constitutes. Needless to say, many in /tg/ find such inclusion of real world conservatives in our 40k to be a sad, idiotic and pathetic phenomenon that (along with the very exsistence of Conservatives) should be punished by summary [[Exterminatus]] on the global level, and [[BLAM|execution]] on the local level.

Recently during the George Floyd Protests, Game Workshops have made an official statement condemning the unhealthy worship of Warhammer as a source of /pol/ propaganda.

==Ideology and Methodology (such as it is)==
While the full history of the SJW phenomenon is way too complicated to describe on their page and is usually less relevant to /tg/ (at least far less so than interactions with other boards on the site), suffice to say that while SJWs are the product of modern civil rights movements [[Ultramarines|who blindly adhere to the LETTER of a given progressive political creed's code of conduct without understanding the spirit of it]], /pol/acks essentially aspire to become the uber-racist, sexist, [[Chaotic Stupid|hyper-reactionary]] [[Word Bearers|card-carrying degenerates]] they think the other side recognizes them to be.

That this is (again) close to the same way some SJWs would come to conduct themselves - down to and including the general rudderlessness, the ''typical'' response to anyone who doesn't share their opinion, and the general prevalence of bullshit artists as figureheads - may explain why /pol/, by and large, seem so eager to join them in the race to the bottom. However, the horseshoe theory only holds water if you have the most basic and binary grasp of the political spectrum; everyone likes to think their "side" is the most rational.

Admittedly, badly implemented and ham-fisted progressive policies tend to alienate the people not supported by them, just like any other political policy, and it's not uncommon for social justice narratives (or ANY kind, really, but specifically these) to be astroturfed and exploited by politicians and corporations alike, as well as the grifters out for social currency. Thus, some people feel an instinct to rebel against a status quo that supposedly coddles and encourages "white guilt" and "political correctness gone mad", while others seek out the "rightful" social positioning they couldn't get elsewhere - and still others are looking for fresh marks after their recruitment pool in other activist circles went dry. From these groups, the edgiest and the craziest form the core of /pol/.

However, any analysis going beyond the surface for more than five minutes would recognize progressive lip service to be just that - lip service designed to appease 'SJW' demands rather than actually meet them. In addition, the "horseshoe theory" school of thought seems slightly more merited upon recognizing that, when they're not using it as a thoroughly cynical ploy to draw attention and stir shit, /pol/acks will use eerily similar rhetoric to signal their own virtues of traditional values, being "rational" thinkers, and otherwise acting in defense of "freedom", at least when they're genuinely believing anything beyond what directly benefits them. The words "refuge in audacity" should come to mind for the [[TVTropes|tropers]] in the audience, albeit in a far more disingenuous sense - the right to offend and be irreverent is elevated to a sacred cow, which is about as self-defeating as it sounds.

That said, most /pol/tergeists and conservatives have no idea how anything actually works - even the basics of their own most common political beliefs are notoriously flimsy (if not OUTRIGHT blatant) myths and lies, often more than the SJWs they denigrate. The average /pol/ user tends to conduct themselves and their approach to politics across the board with all the nuance and subtlety of any given sportsball fandom, even '''before''' the slow bleeding of the glorified sportsball spectacle that is modern mainstream politics into the board itself commenced. While 4chan at large is and always has been something of a self-sustaining shitshow even at its best, /pol/ is (ostensibly) despised even by the rest of the userbase because they take their views to the logical "conclusion" and render themselves little more than bizarre caricatures.

Example of such nonsensical claims include: Stalin being a Jew (he was Georgian and a major anti-Semite to boot; the Jewish influence, of course, was mainly from Trotsky, which makes it all the more ironic); the first reports of Nazi death camps came from the Soviets (it came from Poland); most welfare recipients being unemployed black people (evidencing a misunderstanding of "majority" and "disproportionate number", as most people on welfare are white and only use it for 3 years or less); and the British Empire started declining by 1800 (their Golden Age was from 1816-1915, with Jews very well represented). And the coup de grace theory to rule over them all is another theory, "The Khazar Theory", that the real good Jews are actually all white people (Jacob's sons), while all the stereotypical Jews are [[Mongols|Khazar nomads' descendants]]. [[What|Yes, this is your brain's sound when it shifts without the clutch.]]

This is indicative of one of the biggest problems with /pol/ and conservatives as a whole, even more than not staying in their containment board: its denizens suffer from a board-wide Dunning-Kruger effect, believing themselves expert authorities on a multitude of subjects that individually take years of study at minimum, and shitpost and overuse bad memes as a substitute for wit and intelligence, ignoring that even the most casual Googling could debunk most of their narratives. Even Stormfront (which was run by an actual member of the Ku Klux Klan at one point, if it somehow still isn't) had ''slightly'' more principle; gods help you if you enter /pol/ from Israel.

Whenever a meme becomes popular on /pol/, they will begin forcing the meme on every other board, rapidly driving it so far into the ground that it will come out on the other side of the planet before the day is out. The memes they spam tend to be childish insults that will only impress people below 18. It says a lot about their board when getting merged with /mlp/ during an April Fools' joke '''improved''' it.

'''TL;DR:''' Even ignoring their disgusting traits AND putting aside "keep /pol/ in /pol/" talk, /tg/ remembers first and foremost that /pol/ is a containment board for a ''very good'' reason.

===Connections with the Christchurch Mosque Attacks===
{{BLAM|This section concerns the attacks on the Christchurch Mosques in New Zealand, the consequences of which affected the entire board, and by extension /tg/.}}

Brenton Tarrant, the 28-year-old man who attacked two Mosques in Christchurch, NZ, apparently identified as a "/pol/ack" and made a <s>detailed</s> barely literate manifesto mostly in the form of a "Q&A," containing absolutely zero original political thought and nary a trace of coherent ideology besides repetition of the basic White Nationalist complaints of a Western demographic upheaval (the "fourteen words," basically). It is all the more pathetic because he characterizes the poorly-formatted PDF as a ''magnum opus'' of three years' worth of political growth; one critical point of [[Derp|critical fuckstupid]] is his admiration for Hitler.

Even '''/pol/ itself''', for all its numerous faults, practically worships the concept of the free exchange of ideas: A common point of contention with SJWs, perceived and otherwise, is freedom of debate and free speech at all costs, especially when it's offensive...at least, up until the point where their '''''own''''' views are challenged, of course. Then they suddenly decide that maybe censorship isn't so bad after all, which explains quite a lot about the board's(and most conservative's) fascist sympathies.

Said manifesto referenced several questionably tasteful memes (prominently, "remove kebab"), and the fucking degenerate actually went so far as to shout out those memes in public and play [[/v/|video game soundtracks]] and songs that /pol/ has turned into memes, while actively shooting people and live-streaming it. Sick fuck. Naturally, this means more conversations about the impact of the Internet/social media and technology in general and its role in the lives of disaffected millennials (and doing it full justice is a tall order and a half); the level of disconnect displayed, even by the expected standards of radical politics, that would allow a person to take a life while joyfully shouting silly sayings from the Internet like he was at an anime convention is disgusting and hard to fathom.

His goal, apparently, was to cause more hysteria and retribution: in his manifesto, he specifically spoke of wanting to stir up shit regarding ''inter alia'', laws regarding the rights of free speech and bearing arms which, in his mind, would lead to civil war and an ultimate victory for his ideology, such as it is. He imagined himself becoming a full martyr for the cause, or else incarcerated and (if the latter) perhaps later to be broken out of jail by a movement inspired by his "noble actions"...and yet few people online seem to consider his actions or their results desirable, even among those who would inevitably be even ''remotely'' 'sympathetic' to his cause. The only ones who would wholeheartedly support him were likely deadset on their ideology to begin with.

This, along with his choice to attack extremely soft targets (including women, children, and mainstream, non-radical places of worship), is enough to demonstrate that he was not a political actor in any real sense, but rather amounts to the perpetrator of an incident far more serious and tragic. Rather than a "proper 'domestic [i.e. white] terrorist'" (say, Timothy McVeigh), he comes across more as an aimless man on a demented rampage just like all Trump supporters.

By virtue of being a white man in a European culture instead of, say, a member of a rival sect in an Islamic country, his attack on a mosque actually makes international headlines for more than five minutes; with his point well out the window, his pathetic attempts at justifying his attack only harmed his cause in the imagination of the general public. Needless to say, the consequences of his actions were quite serious: political groups of which he was a member or tangentially related to are being rightfully attacked by the government, and then PM said that New Zealand's gun laws "had to change". Most directly relevant to /tg/, their neighbor Australia [[Exterminatus|banned access]] to 4chan, 8chan and ''even fucking LiveLeak'' for distributing video of the massacre, which indirectly fucks over that entire sector of the userbase(s), likely due to the fact that the shooter, Brenton, is an Australian.

As if that wasn’t enough, the level of irony to Tarrant’s actions defies reality. Tarrant was fixated on mass migration in his manifesto, but thanks to his attack, New Zealand (and possibly other western countries) will accept EVEN MORE migrants from the Middle East and Africa in an effort to show that they’re tolerant of said migrants despite Tarrant’s attack. Way to go.

Though /pol/, with its vulgar and juvenile approach to issues of demography and race, is a tempting target to assign blame for his actions, 4chan might not be the genesis of his personal dissatisfaction; if the manifesto is to be trusted (itself a dicey proposition) he had apparently become interested in racial questions while touring the world and seeing the demographic changes which are afflicting Europe first hand. The problem is that when shitposting manchildren drink their own Kool-Aid and take up their guns alongside to murder innocent people, the average reasonable person should make a connection between the violence and the [[Star Wars|wretched hives of scum and villany]] said bad actors frequent, and so here we are.

This isn't entirely news to these folks, of course: "screw your optics, I'm going in" was how the last significant /pol/ terrorist put it, before attacking a defenseless synagogue which had no remote relation to any of /pol/'s 'concerns'. The inherent cowardice in that aspect of ''that'' attack and the most recent one are only one of the ways in which they are alike, but one of the most telling, not least because it begs the question of why the phrase "the last significant /pol/ terrorist" is even applicable.

Any reasonably well-adjusted person from anywhere on the political spectrum can see that the culture and posters of /pol/ are what give it its unfathomably bad name, which by extension affects already-considered-malignant *chan subculture such that one would be hard-pressed to assert otherwise. Inasmuch as /pol/acks even take their own putative ideas seriously, they don't tend to do themselves any favors - on- OR off-line. In addition, despite 4chan supposedly not being the birthing place for the ideals of Mr. Tarrant, the fact that it can now be tangibly tied to such people AND the resulting Australian lockdown on 4chan/8chan/etc. is certain to impact perception of the board and anyone seen as aligned with them - likely for the worse.

==See Also==
*[[SJW]]s, the left-leaning "contrast" to /pol/'s alt-right twattery, subjected to constant, mostly inaccurate, comparisons due to alleged hypocrisy and similar but more ethical zealotry. A major distinction is that SJWs have a good cause and have produced less violence than /pol/, conservatives, libertarians, and even classical liberals.
*[[Board-tans/pol]]
*[[Racial Holy War]], for what anyone with a moral compass knows would happen if a /pol/ack or a basic bitch conservative made an RPG.
*[[MYFAROG]], for when a /pol/ack actually made an RPG.
*[[Nazi]], what (most of) these guys ''wish'' they were.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBpijRDDOxQ An appropriate response] to the forced Trump meme and conservatives in general.

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center">
File:First_visit_to_pol.gif
File:1477229948688.jpg
File:Never Relax.jpg
File:1491144651231.png
File:1475903382909.jpg
File:Global Rule -3.jpg
File:Shitpost.png
File:1490344868585.jpg
File:1518620305269.jpg
File:1517880145411.png
File:Srgfd.png|All anyone needs to know.
File:1495590391196.png|Same as before but adapted to new memes.
File:5680446+_b10ddaacb84c03cf89b71c1f1327e25b.jpg|Cap doing what Cap does best.
File:Back_to_pol.jpg|The appropriate dismissal of all /pol/tards.
File:1481725926368.jpg|Some guy on Stormfront planning on using /pol/ as ''agitprop''.
File:1488601566861.jpg|/pol/tards delude themselves into thinking that it's only liberals who dislike them.
</gallery>

[[Category: Meme]][[Category: 4chan]][[Category: RAGE]]

/pol/

2020-06-12T10:15:52Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: Undo revision 663914 by HussarZwei (talk)

{{Flamewar}}
{{fail}}
{{heresy}}

[[File:QnVjrKW.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]

{{topquote|Gas the kikes! [[Racial Holy War|Race war]] now!|/pol/'s battlecry}}
{{topquote|1=Gentlemen, I had a vision of the future. One day because we won [[The_World_Wars#The_First_World_War|this war]], a man called Adolf Hitler will take power and he will make a lot of people angry about the Jewry. And also romani. And also the blacks. And the non-whites. Except for the Japanese, they're honorable Aryans, I guess. Also there will be a website called 4chan.org, and there will be a board called /pol/, and it will just be about what I have described. Its kind of a [[My Little Pony|one-trick-pony, except the pony is retarded]].|2=[https://youtu.be/Tj-nCjnVDKM?t=2133 The Fresh Sorcerer's accurate summary of /pol/]}}

[[Skub]]'s final form, and the polar opposite of [[SJW]].

'''/pol/''' is 4chan's "Politically Incorrect" board, nowadays mostly <s>populated by</s> used for incarcerating <s>people who identify as</s> neo-nazis, alt-righters, ancaps, edgy contrarians, and other colorful characters who rant on Jews, black people, women, Marxists, Muslims, Christians, Atheists, and every variety of white depending on the time of day. This also entails dumb shit such as long passionate debates on whether Slavic or Southern European people count as white, or complaints about Jews causing everything from financial crises to World Wars to hurting your toe on a table leg (the phrase "[[Meme|Baton Roue]]" might come to mind).

If you ask /pol/, they'll claim to be the best and most enlightened board that can see through the lies of society, while everyone from the other boards will call their userbase arguably the most obnoxious and [[cancer]]ous board on the whole site and nothing more than a far-right [[My Little Pony|containment board to prevent them spreading their cancer elsewhere]].

People who frequent /pol/ usually refer to themselves as /pol/lacks, but much more derogatory terms have been rightfully used to describe them by people outside of /pol/ such as /pol/io, /pol/luters, /pol/tards, /pol/yps, tad/pol/es, /pol/esmokers, and /pol/tergeists. The recently coined-term alt-right has quickly become for the right what the term SJW is for the left. On that note, some SJWs and most /pol/acks aren't above having similar ''fundamental'' attitudes towards both their ideology and people who don't agree with it, which may seem odd - unless you're familiar with the idea of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory horseshoe theory] as it applies to political radical behavior, though that in itself isn't always the case.

==Origins==
...What, the above wasn't enough?

Do you REALLY want to know more about this?

...alright, fuck it. Put on the helmets and bring the bleach, this is going to be real long and real boring.

4chan's userbase is naturally the feces of the industrial society, i.e. it bred a lot of NEETs and frustrated people who are largely kept in line with entertainment and porn and economic welfare, and will [[Roman Empire|gladly support any political party as long as their needs are met, inasmuch as they don't bother thinking about anything beyond their immediate well-being]](these monsters should have [[BLAM]]ed from the very beginning). Additionally, /b/ in particular had a history of racial supremacy expressed via memetic bigotry (i.e. using "nigger" as an insult, "faggot" as an endearing word, and "jewgolds" or "shekels" as the term for money) since around 2008, prior to the Anonymous v. Scientology clashes that brought them into more of a "spotlight". Most times it was considered little more than a joke by its userbase, just another way of ensuring that people who couldn't demonstrate thick enough skin to handle the typical level of discourse on /b/ would be driven off.

However, as time went on, conservatives took such things at face value and began to show up more and more often - [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1011498 it's been said that] "any community that gets its laughs by pretending to be idiots will eventually be flooded by actual idiots who mistakenly believe that they're in good company." Eventually, some of the aforementioned idiots began espousing positions that couldn't be dismissed as attempts at humor any longer, but were soon seen for the representation of their values that it really was.

...Then along came the economic housing bubble of 2009, and said NEETs found their bread and circuses were not enough in the face of concepts such as "darkening future" and "imminent poverty". And that opened Pandora's box, unleashing the suppressed anger (normally kept in check by porn, cheap entertainment and welfare) of the NEETizens of 4chan. Unsurprisingly, the first mention of the "alternative right" coincides around the bubble, with this "internal" discontent playing a part in their rise alongside the external 'friction' that social justice represented.

People can get defensive about their opinions about Kirk vs Picard or their taste in anime or opinions about Warhammer fluff or berate others for having opinions which they disagree with, but in the end that's just talking about fiction. In contrast politics is about stuff which actually matters to you in the Real World. Political discussions, especially online, are volatile things at the very best of times. Given that 4chan is '''''the''''' place where reasonable discussion goes to die, it was inevitable that even the calmest attempt at discussing politics quickly devolved into extremist arguments. Trolls and fanatics alike, in many points, became impossible to distinguish from one another - they either forgot whatever original aims they may have possessed, or else simply used those aims as a cover for something they now legitimately believed in and gained validation from.

While they gleefully embraced the Nazi accusations that both sides of a debate would make at each other - and invariably decided to supercharge the politically incorrect arguments with shitposting just to enrage their opponents further - they did all of it with only a marginal knowledge of what the issues they were arguing about even entailed at any given time, if they remotely cared at all. Thus many political arguments far too numerous to count here, from immigration to crime and race, began to take root in /b/ and quickly spread elsewhere; Moot, being the [[Tzeentch|Eternal Planner]] that he is, created /n/ (what /pol/ started as) to corral the arguments.

As you can see, [[Not as planned|it's gone swimmingly for everyone involved.]] Sort of like a multilayered monkey's paw of pure [[fail]].

===Containment Board===
[[File:Pol leaves containment.png|thumb|right|200px]]
As stated earlier, /pol/ is meant to contain the population of conservatives and stormweenies (named for Stormfront, a website that can be considered a precursor to /pol/, and whose community still overlaps with them) on 4chan. Pretty much everyone, including both Moot and most of /pol/ itself, has acknowledged this; Global rule #3 was once 'Keep /pol/ in /pol/'. The rule has since been changed to a more general version saying not to post flames, racism, off-topic replies, uncalled-for catch phrases and other things that are unhelpful to a board, but since that's what /pol/ shitposting essentially IS, the rule is still the same in spirit. Several boards have a sticky at the front page telling people to keep politics in /pol/ as well.

Though /pol/ isn't the only containment board on 4chan, the other containment boards such as /mlp/ and /soc/ are considered to have better userbases - those users have less volatile baggage and the sense to leave it ''on'' those boards. When they venture onto another board, they stay on topic and only ''occasionally'' derail threads or start inflammatory ones (complete with /tg/ [[rage|deriving]] [[lulz|entertainment]] from it), but overall aren't ''nearly'' as insufferable in comparison.

Most attempts to curb /pol/, on the other hand, result in them [[Cancer|spreading to other boards]], where they will try to de-rail the threads on those boards to whatever political event that is galvanizing them and spreading around conspiracy theories. Whenever they are told to fuck off and quit derailing threads, they will start shouting buzzwords. This hasn't stopped the board from being deleted twice throughout their history, mind, but the inevitable spread forced it to be brought back both times. Even to this day, you'll still get threads here and there that fall victim to politically-based derailing by conservatives.

==/pol/ using [[Warhammer 40,000]] as propaganda==
{{topquote|Suffer not the [[xenos]] to live!|Battle cry of the [[Deathwatch]]}}

One of the greatest [[RAGE|headaches]] that /tg/ in particular has with /pol/ is the misuse of the [[grimdark]]ness and xenophobic policies of the [[Imperium of Man]] by [[Neckbeard|Trump supporters]] including those on /pol/, who believe that he is quite literially a modern day incarnation of [[The Emperor]], and that the Western world should really become an IRL Imperium with zero tolerance against "Xenos" and "[[Tau|Cultural Marxists]]", with lots of conspiracy theories that Trump is fighting an endless battle against the "Ruinous Powers" of Liberalism supposedly led by [[Tzeentch|George Soros]]. It's basically yet another "Jews secretly controlling the world" episode on top of the usual boogeyman of "The All-Powerful Left" already invoked by many of the "cuckservatives" the alt-right railed against at their inception.

Initially, they "helped" him the only way they knew how: shitposting about [[anime]], Pepe the Frog, and [[Touhou|Momiji Inubashiri]] in a MAGA hat. One of their most widespread propaganda involving 40k was the complete stereotyping of all Muslims as [[Ork|ultraviolent savages who reproduce by the thousands and have no other instinct than to kill, maim and pillage]], Mexicans being cast [[Tyranids|an all-consuming swarm migrating to America to consume all of its resources]], and that every single one of them should be subject to [[Exterminatus]]. AS if that wasn't insulting to all parties real and fictional, eventually they finally "invented" a shitty forced meme where [[Heresy|they put Donald Trump's head on images of the great God-Emperor of Mankind]]. Not many people find them funny, even in the rare case of the Photoshop job being decent, and the Trump buzz started to fade anyway as reality promptly ensued and people realized he was largely more of the same checkers-level propaganda volleys designed to sway voters (if "[[Derp|uber-rich Conservative politician claiming to be the champion of the poor]]"[[Nazi| sounds familiar to you, anyway]]).

The new wave of French elections brought a more horrific wave of shitposting, with [[Extra Heresy|Marine le Pen being photoshopped into Sister of Battle pictures]]. However, Le Pen lost the French election by [[Fail|a 30% margin]], much to the [[Butthurt|chagrin]] of various /pol/tards. This was possibly compounded by the fact that Le Pen's campaign partly ran off the idea of a 'Frexit', only for Le Pen to abandon the entire idea post-election; between this and the Trump supporters in the userbase becoming indistiguishable from the more stereotypical ones, it proves for the umpteenth time that relying on any kind of political figurehead for overall validation is a universally bad idea.

Given 40k had its start as a ''satire'' of dystopian fiction and a bitter, ironic reflection of right-wing 80s Britain (see also: [[Rogue Trader]]), other right-wingers and conservatives as whole latching onto 40k-memery as a vehicle for demagoguery, propaganda and appeals to emotion, and further conflating it with modern politics is perhaps a schadenfreudish circle finally come complete. Without the original context, they see nothing more than an unironic heroic fantasy that validates their beliefs, rather than the proper mockery that it constitutes. Needless to say, many in /tg/ find such inclusion of real world conservatives in our 40k to be a sad, idiotic and pathetic phenomenon that (along with the very exsistence of Conservatives) should be punished by summary [[Exterminatus]] on the global level, and [[BLAM|execution]] on the local level.

Recently during the George Floyd Protests, Game Workshops have made an official statement condemning the unhealthy worship of Warhammer as a source of /pol/ propaganda.

==Ideology and Methodology (such as it is)==
While the full history of the SJW phenomenon is way too complicated to describe on their page and is usually less relevant to /tg/ (at least far less so than interactions with other boards on the site), suffice to say that while SJWs are the product of modern civil rights movements [[Ultramarines|who blindly adhere to the LETTER of a given progressive political creed's code of conduct without understanding the spirit of it]], /pol/acks essentially aspire to become the uber-racist, sexist, [[Chaotic Stupid|hyper-reactionary]] [[Word Bearers|card-carrying degenerates]] they think the other side recognizes them to be.

That this is (again) close to the same way some SJWs would come to conduct themselves - down to and including the general rudderlessness, the ''typical'' response to anyone who doesn't share their opinion, and the general prevalence of bullshit artists as figureheads - may explain why /pol/, by and large, seem so eager to join them in the race to the bottom. However, the horseshoe theory only holds water if you have the most basic and binary grasp of the political spectrum; everyone likes to think their "side" is the most rational.

Admittedly, badly implemented and ham-fisted progressive policies tend to alienate the people not supported by them, just like any other political policy, and it's not uncommon for social justice narratives (or ANY kind, really, but specifically these) to be astroturfed and exploited by politicians and corporations alike, as well as the grifters out for social currency. Thus, some people feel an instinct to rebel against a status quo that supposedly coddles and encourages "white guilt" and "political correctness gone mad", while others seek out the "rightful" social positioning they couldn't get elsewhere - and still others are looking for fresh marks after their recruitment pool in other activist circles went dry. From these groups, the edgiest and the craziest form the core of /pol/.

However, any analysis going beyond the surface for more than five minutes would recognize progressive lip service to be just that - lip service designed to appease 'SJW' demands rather than actually meet them. In addition, the "horseshoe theory" school of thought seems slightly more merited upon recognizing that, when they're not using it as a thoroughly cynical ploy to draw attention and stir shit, /pol/acks will use eerily similar rhetoric to signal their own virtues of traditional values, being "rational" thinkers, and otherwise acting in defense of "freedom", at least when they're genuinely believing anything beyond what directly benefits them. The words "refuge in audacity" should come to mind for the [[TVTropes|tropers]] in the audience, albeit in a far more disingenuous sense - the right to offend and be irreverent is elevated to a sacred cow, which is about as self-defeating as it sounds.

That said, most /pol/tergeists and conservatives have no idea how anything actually works - even the basics of their own most common political beliefs are notoriously flimsy (if not OUTRIGHT blatant) myths and lies, often more than the SJWs they denigrate. The average /pol/ user tends to conduct themselves and their approach to politics across the board with all the nuance and subtlety of any given sportsball fandom, even '''before''' the slow bleeding of the glorified sportsball spectacle that is modern mainstream politics into the board itself commenced. While 4chan at large is and always has been something of a self-sustaining shitshow even at its best, /pol/ is (ostensibly) despised even by the rest of the userbase because they take their views to the logical "conclusion" and render themselves little more than bizarre caricatures.

Example of such nonsensical claims include: Stalin being a Jew (he was Georgian and a major anti-Semite to boot; the Jewish influence, of course, was mainly from Trotsky, which makes it all the more ironic); the first reports of Nazi death camps came from the Soviets (it came from Poland); most welfare recipients being unemployed black people (evidencing a misunderstanding of "majority" and "disproportionate number", as most people on welfare are white and only use it for 3 years or less); and the British Empire started declining by 1800 (their Golden Age was from 1816-1915, with Jews very well represented). And the coup de grace theory to rule over them all is another theory, "The Khazar Theory", that the real good Jews are actually all white people (Jacob's sons), while all the stereotypical Jews are [[Mongols|Khazar nomads' descendants]]. [[What|Yes, this is your brain's sound when it shifts without the clutch.]]

This is indicative of one of the biggest problems with /pol/ and conservatives as a whole, even more than not staying in their containment board: its denizens suffer from a board-wide Dunning-Kruger effect, believing themselves expert authorities on a multitude of subjects that individually take years of study at minimum, and shitpost and overuse bad memes as a substitute for wit and intelligence, ignoring that even the most casual Googling could debunk most of their narratives. Even Stormfront (which was run by an actual member of the Ku Klux Klan at one point, if it somehow still isn't) had ''slightly'' more principle; gods help you if you enter /pol/ from Israel.

Whenever a meme becomes popular on /pol/, they will begin forcing the meme on every other board, rapidly driving it so far into the ground that it will come out on the other side of the planet before the day is out. The memes they spam tend to be childish insults that will only impress people below 18. It says a lot about their board when getting merged with /mlp/ during an April Fools' joke '''improved''' it.

'''TL;DR:''' Even ignoring their disgusting traits AND putting aside "keep /pol/ in /pol/" talk, /tg/ remembers first and foremost that /pol/ is a containment board for a ''very good'' reason.

===Connections with the Christchurch Mosque Attacks===
{{BLAM|This section concerns the attacks on the Christchurch Mosques in New Zealand, the consequences of which affected the entire board, and by extension /tg/.}}

Brenton Tarrant, the 28-year-old man who attacked two Mosques in Christchurch, NZ, apparently identified as a "/pol/ack" and made a <s>detailed</s> barely literate manifesto mostly in the form of a "Q&A," containing absolutely zero original political thought and nary a trace of coherent ideology besides repetition of the basic White Nationalist complaints of a Western demographic upheaval (the "fourteen words," basically). It is all the more pathetic because he characterizes the poorly-formatted PDF as a ''magnum opus'' of three years' worth of political growth; one critical point of [[Derp|critical fuckstupid]] is his admiration for Hitler.

Even '''/pol/ itself''', for all its numerous faults, practically worships the concept of the free exchange of ideas: A common point of contention with SJWs, perceived and otherwise, is freedom of debate and free speech at all costs, especially when it's offensive...at least, up until the point where their '''''own''''' views are challenged, of course. Then they suddenly decide that maybe censorship isn't so bad after all, which explains quite a lot about the board's(and most conservative's) fascist sympathies.

Said manifesto referenced several questionably tasteful memes (prominently, "remove kebab"), and the fucking degenerate actually went so far as to shout out those memes in public and play [[/v/|video game soundtracks]] and songs that /pol/ has turned into memes, while actively shooting people and live-streaming it. Sick fuck. Naturally, this means more conversations about the impact of the Internet/social media and technology in general and its role in the lives of disaffected millennials (and doing it full justice is a tall order and a half); the level of disconnect displayed, even by the expected standards of radical politics, that would allow a person to take a life while joyfully shouting silly sayings from the Internet like he was at an anime convention is disgusting and hard to fathom.

His goal, apparently, was to cause more hysteria and retribution: in his manifesto, he specifically spoke of wanting to stir up shit regarding ''inter alia'', laws regarding the rights of free speech and bearing arms which, in his mind, would lead to civil war and an ultimate victory for his ideology, such as it is. He imagined himself becoming a full martyr for the cause, or else incarcerated and (if the latter) perhaps later to be broken out of jail by a movement inspired by his "noble actions"...and yet few people online seem to consider his actions or their results desirable, even among those who would inevitably be even ''remotely'' 'sympathetic' to his cause. The only ones who would wholeheartedly support him were likely deadset on their ideology to begin with.

This, along with his choice to attack extremely soft targets (including women, children, and mainstream, non-radical places of worship), is enough to demonstrate that he was not a political actor in any real sense, but rather amounts to the perpetrator of an incident far more serious and tragic. Rather than a "proper 'domestic [i.e. white] terrorist'" (say, Timothy McVeigh), he comes across more as an aimless man on a demented rampage just like all Trump supporters.

By virtue of being a white man in a European culture instead of, say, a member of a rival sect in an Islamic country, his attack on a mosque actually makes international headlines for more than five minutes; with his point well out the window, his pathetic attempts at justifying his attack only harmed his cause in the imagination of the general public. Needless to say, the consequences of his actions were quite serious: political groups of which he was a member or tangentially related to are being rightfully attacked by the government, and then PM said that New Zealand's gun laws "had to change". Most directly relevant to /tg/, their neighbor Australia [[Exterminatus|banned access]] to 4chan, 8chan and ''even fucking LiveLeak'' for distributing video of the massacre, which indirectly fucks over that entire sector of the userbase(s), likely due to the fact that the shooter, Brenton, is an Australian.

As if that wasn’t enough, the level of irony to Tarrant’s actions defies reality. Tarrant was fixated on mass migration in his manifesto, but thanks to his attack, New Zealand (and possibly other western countries) will accept EVEN MORE migrants from the Middle East and Africa in an effort to show that they’re tolerant of said migrants despite Tarrant’s attack. Way to go.

Though /pol/, with its vulgar and juvenile approach to issues of demography and race, is a tempting target to assign blame for his actions, 4chan might not be the genesis of his personal dissatisfaction; if the manifesto is to be trusted (itself a dicey proposition) he had apparently become interested in racial questions while touring the world and seeing the demographic changes which are afflicting Europe first hand. The problem is that when shitposting manchildren drink their own Kool-Aid and take up their guns alongside to murder innocent people, the average reasonable person should make a connection between the violence and the [[Star Wars|wretched hives of scum and villany]] said bad actors frequent, and so here we are.

This isn't entirely news to these folks, of course: "screw your optics, I'm going in" was how the last significant /pol/ terrorist put it, before attacking a defenseless synagogue which had no remote relation to any of /pol/'s 'concerns'. The inherent cowardice in that aspect of ''that'' attack and the most recent one are only one of the ways in which they are alike, but one of the most telling, not least because it begs the question of why the phrase "the last significant /pol/ terrorist" is even applicable.

Any reasonably well-adjusted person from anywhere on the political spectrum can see that the culture and posters of /pol/ are what give it its unfathomably bad name, which by extension affects already-considered-malignant *chan subculture such that one would be hard-pressed to assert otherwise. Inasmuch as /pol/acks even take their own putative ideas seriously, they don't tend to do themselves any favors - on- OR off-line. In addition, despite 4chan supposedly not being the birthing place for the ideals of Mr. Tarrant, the fact that it can now be tangibly tied to such people AND the resulting Australian lockdown on 4chan/8chan/etc. is certain to impact perception of the board and anyone seen as aligned with them - likely for the worse.

==Notable /pol/acks==
If someone identifies as a Conservative they're most likely a /Pol/ack and should treated as such. However there is also a disturbing trend of /pol/acks posing as moderates, centrists, and classical liberals so you don't all always know who to trust. A good rule of thumb is that if they make fun of SJWs, they're a /Pol/ack.
*Tim Pool
*Carl Benjamin
*Dave Rubin
*Tulsi Gabbard
*Jordan Peterson
*Tucker Carlson

==See Also==
*[[SJW]]s, the left-leaning "contrast" to /pol/'s alt-right twattery, subjected to constant, mostly inaccurate, comparisons due to alleged hypocrisy and similar but more ethical zealotry. A major distinction is that SJWs have a good cause and have produced less violence than /pol/, conservatives, libertarians, and even classical liberals.
*[[Board-tans/pol]]
*[[Racial Holy War]], for what anyone with a moral compass knows would happen if a /pol/ack or a basic bitch conservative made an RPG.
*[[MYFAROG]], for when a /pol/ack actually made an RPG.
*[[Nazi]], what (most of) these guys ''wish'' they were.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBpijRDDOxQ An appropriate response] to the forced Trump meme and conservatives in general.

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center">
File:First_visit_to_pol.gif
File:1477229948688.jpg
File:Never Relax.jpg
File:1491144651231.png
File:1475903382909.jpg
File:Global Rule -3.jpg
File:Shitpost.png
File:1490344868585.jpg
File:1518620305269.jpg
File:1517880145411.png
File:Srgfd.png|All anyone needs to know.
File:1495590391196.png|Same as before but adapted to new memes.
File:5680446+_b10ddaacb84c03cf89b71c1f1327e25b.jpg|Cap doing what Cap does best.
File:Back_to_pol.jpg|The appropriate dismissal of all /pol/tards.
File:1481725926368.jpg|Some guy on Stormfront planning on using /pol/ as ''agitprop''.
File:1488601566861.jpg|/pol/tards delude themselves into thinking that it's only liberals who dislike them.
</gallery>

[[Category: Meme]][[Category: 4chan]][[Category: RAGE]]

Gods of Dungeons & Dragons

2020-06-12T06:51:45Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: /* Humblewood */

Within all roleplaying games (outside of Warhammer 40k's Dark Heresy, where thinking outside the box is [[Heresy]]) there are deities. Whether they are good or bad, they exist.

This list will more or less contain the versions of the deities from 3.5 to the latest edition, and how they can be used to portray characters in your settings.

==Infobox==
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = What the god is called.
|Symbol = What special marking worshippers use to signal their faith.
|Aliases = Other names and titles the god is known by.
|Alignment = Does this need explaining?
|Divine Rank = How the god ranks amongst its own kind.
|Pantheon = What group(s) of gods this god belongs to.
|Portfolio = What this god is responsible for.
|Domains = What [[Cleric Domain]]s it bestows.
|Home Plane = Place of residence in the multiverse.
|Worshippers = Who actually worships this god.
|Favoured Weapon = What faithful worshippers consider best to protect themselves with.
}}
The information box that should eventually grace each god's page, summing up their information in a nutshell.
{{clear}}

==Types of Religions==
These are how religions are categorized in D&D.

===Loose & Tight Pantheons===
Loose pantheons are the default for D&D. A bunch of gods with their own portfolio exist, have varying relationships with other deities, their own myths and doctrines, and each deity tries to advance their own portfolio and doctrine in the world.

Tight pantheons differ in that the gods usually have either a ruler among them, or some other body of myths, doctrine, or rituals common with them, with an aberrant deity or two whose worship is frowned upon. Most people in either of them are either polytheistic or henotheistic, acknowledge the other gods but only worship one or some of them.

===Mystery Cults===
Cults of a single deity, or at most a handful of deities, where the personal relationship with the deity is emphasized. Largely based on a ritual of initiation where the person is mystically identified with the deity in question, and are taught their own unique myths. Often associated with gods of nature, and a part of other religious systems. [[Dennari]]'s faith is an example of deity with a mystery cult.

===Monotheism===
You probably know what monotheism means, and if you don't look it up ya dingus! In D&D, monotheistic deities have aspects who the regular people worship. [[Taiia]] is an example of a monotheistic D&D deity.

===Dualism===
Here, you two opposing forces (Law vs. Chaos, Good Vs. Evil, etc.) fighting each other, and the whole world is the stage for their conflict. Most believe that one is good and the other is evil, but some say that the two must remain at balance for the best result. [[Elishar]] and [[Toldoth]] are examples of a dualistic religion and its deities.

===Animism===
Spirits are everywhere here, and I mean literally everywhere, a tree has its spirit, as does everyone of its leaves, and so does the mountain, the sun and moon, the river, your computer, and that pebble over there. Most people here tend give praise and sacrifices to a specific spirit depending on the occasion and situation, whiles a [[cleric]] worships a handful of them as his or her patrons.

An undetermined/unexplored form of Animism is the presumed default religion of the [[Druid]]s, which is literally why that class exists as a separate thing to the Nature God Clerics. In [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]], this desire to give druids a deeper meaning led to the creation of the [[Primal Spirits]] as ''the'' animistic religion of the [[World Axis]] cosmology.

===Forces & Philosophies===
Of course, some gain their powers from their devotion and beliefs of some ideal or philosophy (honor, freedom, wealth, power, etc.) or simply worship forces of either nature or magic, with deities being just personal manifestations of impersonal forces and philosophies. They don't deny the existance of deities, they just think them as too much like the mortals who worship them.

==Divine Ranks==
In D&D, deities have a rank, ranging from quasi-deity to greater deity. All it really means is that the greater deities rank the more powerful they are, more generalized their portfolio's are, and, depending on the setting, how many worshippers they have. The ranks shown here are the ones used in 3.5, and from bottom to top they are:
*'''Quasi-Deity:''' Not quite gods but still immortal and powerful beings. Planar powers ([[Archdevil]]s, [[Animal Lord]]s, [[Celestia|the Hebdomad]], etc.), [[Elder Evils]], and [[Vestige]]s go here.
*'''Hero-Deity:''' Ascended mortals, often sponsored by other gods, and descendants of mortals and deities go here. Often have very specialized portfolios.
*'''Demigod:''' Here be gods proper. From here on they can have their own realms in the [[Outer Planes]], and grant spells to their worshippers depending on the setting.
*'''Lesser Deity:''' More powerful than demigods and more widely worshipped.
*'''Intermediate Deity:''' More powerful than lesser deities and more widely worshipped.
*'''Greater Deity:''' The leaders of pantheons, usually, and gods of common nouns, concepts, and universal forces (magic, sun, nature, etc.) go here.
*'''Overdeity:''' Gods in charge of other gods, often the ones who decide whether or not someone becomes a god. Don't grant spells and have no worshippers, being beyond the need for them.

There are also two unique divine ranks that are tied to cosmologies outside of the [[Great Wheel]]...
*'''[[Mystaran Immortal]]s''' are named as such because they are tied to the nameless cosmology of [[Mystara]], which due to its basis in [[Sword & Sorcery]] meets [[Science Fantasy]] "Pulp Fantasy" uses a complex system of dimensions rather than planes. Immortals are former mortals who have attuned themselves to one of the five Spheres that make up the pillars of reality - Thought, Matter, Energy, Time and Entropy - by following one of four archetypal Paths (Dynast, Hero, Paragon, Polymath) to ascend into a multi-dimensional higher entity. They're gods, but they don't work the same way as the gods of Great Wheel do.
*'''[[Exarch]]s''' hail from the World Axis, and the term basically means "any powerful, unique, and immortal servant of a full-fledged god". In essence, the World Axis uses "God" to refer "Greater Deity" and "Exarch" to refer to "any divine entity below that in power".

==Historical Deities==
Whilst D&D has never shied away from creating gods of its own division for its various campaign settings, [[Gygax]] and his buddies were big mythology and history fans, so they eagerly explored the idea of using various "Pagan" religions as being real things in the D&D multiverse. This led to the [[Deities & Demigods]] [[splatbook]]. Whether or not people actually ''like'' this idea of "defictionalizing" real-world mythologies, which people can get rather touchy about... well...

{{D&D-Historical-Deities}}

==[[Dragonlance]]==
The gods of Dragonlance each have a constellation in the night sky or one of the three moons. When a god walks in the world among mortals, that constellation is absent from the sky, which is a dead giveaway to the other gods.

;Gods of Good
* Branchala (the harp), music, inspiration, bards
* Habbakuk (the phoenix), persistence, animals, rangers
* Kiri-Jolith (the bison's head), unity, strength, fighters
* Majere (the rose), discipline, dreams, monks
* Mishakal (the figure-eight), restoration, motherhood, healers
* Paladine (the platinum dragon), majesty, aspirations, leaders
* Solinari (the silver moon), magic used for good, wizards

;Gods of Neutrality
* Chislev (a wandering star (planet)), instinct, natural world
* Gilean (the book), knowledge, librarians, scholars
* Lunitari (the red moon), magic used for neutrality, wizards
* Reorx (a red star), creation, craftsmen, dwarves and gnomes
* Shinare (a wandering star (planet)), interaction, agreements, merchants
* Sirrion (a wandering star (planet)), transformation, fire, artists and alchemists
* Zivilyn (a wandering star (planet)), wisdom, awareness, completely impartial

;Gods of Evil
* Chemosh (the goat skull), fatalism, despair, undead
* Hiddukel (the broken scale), exploitation, selfishness, thieves
* Morgion (the diseased hood), decay, disease, suffering
* Nuitari (the black (invisible) moon), magic used for evil, wizards
* Sargonnas (the condor), wrath, revenge, minotaurs
* Takhisis (the five-headed dragon), control, conquest, tyrants
* Zeboim (the dragon-turtle), strife, mood-swings, bane of sailors

{{D&D-Dragonlance-Deities}}

==[[Eberron]]==
Religion here is more like actual religion than normal ''D&D''. There's evidence for and against the gods existing, and divine magic is fueled by faith, rather than the actual god. Some atheist/agnostic clerics or fanatical believers in a state or charismatic individual can also access spells for this reason, and there are no alignment restrictions on priesthood. The Silver Flame has the worst kind of evil hypocrites, deluded into thinking they're doing the right thing, the Blood of Vol has decent, innocent people taken in by its cultish lies, and everything on a spectrum in between, and so long as their faith holds, their spells come out right.

*The Sovereign Host: Traditional "good" gods.
*The Dark Six: Traditional "evil" gods.
*The Silver Flame: Similar to Medival Catholicism
*The Dragon Below: Demon worship.
*The Lord of Blades: A [[warforged]]-supremacist preaching the death or enslavement of all the fleshies. Not ''actually'' a god, but his followers are such mad fanatics that they can manifest divine magic anyway.
*The Blood of Vol: Humanism with some Undeath mixed in. Most members don’t know about the evil cult running things from behind the scenes..
*The Path of Light: Kalashtar religion opposing the Quori.
*The Path of Inspiration: Quori-founded religion that ''looks'' like a peaceful religion but is actually helping them come into the world.
*The Becoming God: A bunch of warforged trying to build their own god. Probably not actually the Lord of Blades, though he certainly wants to be, and there's some overlap with his followers.

{{D&D-Eberron-Faiths}}

==[[Forgotten Realms]]==
{{D&D5e-FR-Deities}}

==[[Ghostwalk]]==
{{Ghostwalk-Deities}}

==[[Greyhawk]]==
{{D&D-Greyhawk-Deities}}

To make things more complicated, the gods that appear in the Flanaess originated from a number of ethnic groups appearing in the setting. The Oerdian, Baklunish, Flan and Suloise peoples all have their own gods, some of them overlapping. Some gods are revered by multiple groups and have no direct origin, while others are worshipped in only one region. Below are listed a number of these deities.

;Greater Deities
*[[Beory]], the Earth mother
*[[Boccob]], god of magic, arcane knowledge, balance and foresight.
*[[Incabulos]], god of plague, famine, disease and disaster.
*[[Istus]], goddess of of fate, destiny and the future.
*[[Nerull]], god of death, darkness, murder and the underworld.
*[[Pelor]], god of sun, light, strength and healing. More humans worship Pelor than any other deity.
*[[Rao]], god of peace and reason.

;Intermediate Deities
*[[Celestian]], god of the stars, wanderers and space.
*[[Ehlonna]], goddess of forests, woodlands, flora & fauna, and fertility.
*[[Erythnul]], god of hate, envy, malice, panic, ugliness, and slaughter.
*[[Fharlanghn]], god of horizons, distance, travel, and roads.
*[[Heironeous]], god of chivalry, justice, honor, war, daring, and valor.
*[[Hextor]], god of war, discord, massacres, conflict, fitness, and tyranny.
*[[Kord]], god of athletics, sports, brawling, strength, and courage.
*[[Lendor]], god of time, patience and study.
*[[Obad-Hai]], god of nature, freedom, hunting, and beasts.
*[[Olidammara]], god of music, revels, wine, rogues, humor, and tricks. Tends to fuck with the other gods for the hell of it.
*[[Pholtus]], god of law, order, light, the sun and the moons.
*[[Procan]], god of the seas, sea life and navigation.
*[[Ralishaz]], god of chance, misfortune and insanity.
*[[Saint Cuthbert]], god of common sense, wisdom, zeal, honesty, truth, and discipline. Needless to say, he's all but dead in the [[Warhammer 40k|future]].
*[[Tharizdun]], god of entropy, insanity and darkness.
*[[Ulaa]], goddess of mountains, mining and gemstones.
*[[Wee Jas]], goddess of magic, death, vanity, and law.
*[[Zilchus]], god of trade and money.

;Lesser Deities
*[[Vecna]] god of secrets.
*[[Xan Yae]]

;Demi-Gods
*[[Wastri]]
*[[Ye'Cind]], [[Alignment#Chaotic_Good|Chaotic]] [[Seldarine|elven deity]] of music, enchantment, and magick.
*[[Zagyg]], deification of [[Gygax]] himself.
*[[Zuoken]]

==[[Mystara]]==
In Mystara, instead of Gods you have the Immortals, mortal beings who reached divinity through their actions in life and sponsorship by other Immortals. The Immortals are ranked by power (Initiates being the recently ascended and the weakest, with Hierarchs being the oldest and strongest), and divided based on which of the five Spheres they belong to.
*Sphere of Matter is mainly Lawful, concerned with stability and order.
*Sphere of Energy is mainly Chaotic, concerned with change and transformation.
*Sphere of Time is mainly Neutral, concerned with balance, growth, and rebirth.
*Sphere of Thought is mainly Good, concerned with understanding and enlightnement.
*Sphere of Entrophy is mainly Evil, concerned with destruction and opposing all of the above Spheres and itself.

Above the Immortals are the [[Old Ones]] ([[Old Ones (Warhammer)|No, not those ones]]), who are to Immortals, what Immortals are to mortals.

It's also possible for [[PC]]s to become Immortals (of any Sphere except Entropy), and even Old Ones (provided they can reach the highest level in their Sphere, level 40, twice).
{{D&D-Mystara-Immortals}}

==Nentir Vale (Dawn War Pantheon)==
The default setting for D&D 4E.
{{D&D4e-Deities}}

==[[Planescape]]==
Too many gods to count, some less potent than a 20th level player character. You can use gods from any of the other campaign settings, even multiple settings. Planescape adventures are usually based in the city of [[Planescape#Sigil|Sigil]] which no god may enter, not even when [[Orcus]] was acting as the [[BBEG]] of the entire AD&D 2nd edition.

Pantheons that have been mentioned in Planescape include:

;D&D
*[[Birthright]]
*[[Dragonlance]]
*[[Forgotten Realms]]
*[[Greyhawk]]

;Real life
*Babylonian
*Celtic
*Chinese
*Egyptian
*Finnish
*Greek
*Indian
*Japanese
*Native American
*Norse
*Sumerian

The [[Lady of Pain]] isn't here because she is not a god.

==Racial==
{{D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

These deities appear in several campaign settings (including [[Forgotten Realms]] and [[Greyhawk]]) as part of their racial pantheons. Except when they're dead.
*[[Annam]], god of giants.
*[[Bahamut]], god of good dragons.
*[[Blibdoolpoolp]], god of kuo-toas.
*[[Corellon Larethian]], god of [[elves]], magic, music, and arts.
*[[Garl Glittergold]], god of [[gnomes]], humor, and gemcutting.
*[[Gruumsh]], god of [[orcs]].
*[[Kurtulmak]] god of [[kobold]]s.
*[[Lolth]], goddess of [[Drow]] and spiders.
*[[Moradin]], god of [[dwarves]].
*[[Tiamat]], goddess of evil dragons.
*[[Yondalla]], goddess of [[halflings]].

==[[Ravenloft]]==
Many of the gods of Ravenloft are likely not real, but people who worship them can gain spells anyway because the [[Dark Powers]] grant divine magic in their place. They may actually be granting the spells of all divine casters in Ravenloft no matter what deity they actually worship. So the Dark Powers may be the only really gods or otherwise godlike beings that have any real influence though people don't actually worship them.
{{D&D-Ravenloft-Deities}}

==Third Party Settings==

===[[Dragonmech]]===
Most people stopped believing in the gods after the moon got closer and clerics stopped getting spells properly. They do exist but are under siege from the lunar gods, who are also trying to steal their followers, which limits their capabilities. Along with that, some old and forgotten gods are coming back, a new god, [[Dotrak]], is being born from peoples faith in machines, and some people are gaining divine spells from their faith in ideas and philosophies.

===[[Dragonstar]]===
The Unification Church maintains that there are 12 "deitypes", or true gods, who created everything and from which all the other deities are derived, with some being combinations of two or more deitypes. Along with that you also have the Dualist Heresy who say that there are only two true gods.

===[[Humblewood]]===
The birdfolk and humblefolk both worship a pantheon known as the [[Amaranthine]], a collection of nature deities who each take responsibility for a specific aspect of nature. There are twelve Amaranthine in total; one spiritual patron for each of the [[beastfolk]] races of the setting, plus a duotheistic pair of pantheon leaders who, whilst depicted as birds, are regarded as above such a divide and thusly are connected to all races equally.
{{D&D-Amaranthine}}

===[[Ptolus]]===
In Ptolus, most people follow [[Lothian]], who is Jesus and whose church is the Roman Catholic Church. The said church went about oppressing all the other faiths until just 200 years ago when they lost enough power, and became a bit more tolerant, to allow other faiths to gain momentum again. You also have things like the Temple of Excellence, whose halfling cleric has divine spells simply because he believes in himself hard enough, and the cults of chaos who worship [[The Galchutt|various gribbly things]].

{{D&D-Ptolus-Deities}}

===[[Scarred Lands]]===
The world underwent a fantasy Titanomachy, i.e. mortal-friendly gods took over things from the less-friendly titans. There's the eight main gods, and a host of minor demigods, and titan-worshippers are hiding in the shadows, well except for the followers of [[Denev]]. In other places you have the [[Ushada]], the animistic spirits of everything, and the [[Agency of the Emperor]] in the Dragon Lands.

{{D&D-SL-Faiths}}

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
File:Greyhawk1.gif|Priests of [[Pholtus]], [[Al'Akbar]], [[Saint Cuthbert]], [[Heironeous]], and [[Hextor]]
File:Greyhawk2.gif|Priests of [[Lendor]], [[Istus]], [[Boccob]], [[Celestian]], and [[Fharlaghn]]
File:Greyhawk3.gif|Priests of [[Iuz]], [[Nerull]], [[Tharizdun]], [[Vecna]], and [[Wastri]]
File:Greyhawk4.gif|Priests of [[Sehanine Moonbow]], [[Mouqol]], [[Rao]], [[Zuoken]], and [[Xan Yae]]
File:Greyhawk5.gif|Priests of [[Kurell]], [[Trithereon]], [[Wenta]], [[Ralishaz]], and [[Kord]]
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category: Planescape]]

Gods of Dungeons & Dragons

2020-06-12T06:51:05Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: /* Humblewood */

Within all roleplaying games (outside of Warhammer 40k's Dark Heresy, where thinking outside the box is [[Heresy]]) there are deities. Whether they are good or bad, they exist.

This list will more or less contain the versions of the deities from 3.5 to the latest edition, and how they can be used to portray characters in your settings.

==Infobox==
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = What the god is called.
|Symbol = What special marking worshippers use to signal their faith.
|Aliases = Other names and titles the god is known by.
|Alignment = Does this need explaining?
|Divine Rank = How the god ranks amongst its own kind.
|Pantheon = What group(s) of gods this god belongs to.
|Portfolio = What this god is responsible for.
|Domains = What [[Cleric Domain]]s it bestows.
|Home Plane = Place of residence in the multiverse.
|Worshippers = Who actually worships this god.
|Favoured Weapon = What faithful worshippers consider best to protect themselves with.
}}
The information box that should eventually grace each god's page, summing up their information in a nutshell.
{{clear}}

==Types of Religions==
These are how religions are categorized in D&D.

===Loose & Tight Pantheons===
Loose pantheons are the default for D&D. A bunch of gods with their own portfolio exist, have varying relationships with other deities, their own myths and doctrines, and each deity tries to advance their own portfolio and doctrine in the world.

Tight pantheons differ in that the gods usually have either a ruler among them, or some other body of myths, doctrine, or rituals common with them, with an aberrant deity or two whose worship is frowned upon. Most people in either of them are either polytheistic or henotheistic, acknowledge the other gods but only worship one or some of them.

===Mystery Cults===
Cults of a single deity, or at most a handful of deities, where the personal relationship with the deity is emphasized. Largely based on a ritual of initiation where the person is mystically identified with the deity in question, and are taught their own unique myths. Often associated with gods of nature, and a part of other religious systems. [[Dennari]]'s faith is an example of deity with a mystery cult.

===Monotheism===
You probably know what monotheism means, and if you don't look it up ya dingus! In D&D, monotheistic deities have aspects who the regular people worship. [[Taiia]] is an example of a monotheistic D&D deity.

===Dualism===
Here, you two opposing forces (Law vs. Chaos, Good Vs. Evil, etc.) fighting each other, and the whole world is the stage for their conflict. Most believe that one is good and the other is evil, but some say that the two must remain at balance for the best result. [[Elishar]] and [[Toldoth]] are examples of a dualistic religion and its deities.

===Animism===
Spirits are everywhere here, and I mean literally everywhere, a tree has its spirit, as does everyone of its leaves, and so does the mountain, the sun and moon, the river, your computer, and that pebble over there. Most people here tend give praise and sacrifices to a specific spirit depending on the occasion and situation, whiles a [[cleric]] worships a handful of them as his or her patrons.

An undetermined/unexplored form of Animism is the presumed default religion of the [[Druid]]s, which is literally why that class exists as a separate thing to the Nature God Clerics. In [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]], this desire to give druids a deeper meaning led to the creation of the [[Primal Spirits]] as ''the'' animistic religion of the [[World Axis]] cosmology.

===Forces & Philosophies===
Of course, some gain their powers from their devotion and beliefs of some ideal or philosophy (honor, freedom, wealth, power, etc.) or simply worship forces of either nature or magic, with deities being just personal manifestations of impersonal forces and philosophies. They don't deny the existance of deities, they just think them as too much like the mortals who worship them.

==Divine Ranks==
In D&D, deities have a rank, ranging from quasi-deity to greater deity. All it really means is that the greater deities rank the more powerful they are, more generalized their portfolio's are, and, depending on the setting, how many worshippers they have. The ranks shown here are the ones used in 3.5, and from bottom to top they are:
*'''Quasi-Deity:''' Not quite gods but still immortal and powerful beings. Planar powers ([[Archdevil]]s, [[Animal Lord]]s, [[Celestia|the Hebdomad]], etc.), [[Elder Evils]], and [[Vestige]]s go here.
*'''Hero-Deity:''' Ascended mortals, often sponsored by other gods, and descendants of mortals and deities go here. Often have very specialized portfolios.
*'''Demigod:''' Here be gods proper. From here on they can have their own realms in the [[Outer Planes]], and grant spells to their worshippers depending on the setting.
*'''Lesser Deity:''' More powerful than demigods and more widely worshipped.
*'''Intermediate Deity:''' More powerful than lesser deities and more widely worshipped.
*'''Greater Deity:''' The leaders of pantheons, usually, and gods of common nouns, concepts, and universal forces (magic, sun, nature, etc.) go here.
*'''Overdeity:''' Gods in charge of other gods, often the ones who decide whether or not someone becomes a god. Don't grant spells and have no worshippers, being beyond the need for them.

There are also two unique divine ranks that are tied to cosmologies outside of the [[Great Wheel]]...
*'''[[Mystaran Immortal]]s''' are named as such because they are tied to the nameless cosmology of [[Mystara]], which due to its basis in [[Sword & Sorcery]] meets [[Science Fantasy]] "Pulp Fantasy" uses a complex system of dimensions rather than planes. Immortals are former mortals who have attuned themselves to one of the five Spheres that make up the pillars of reality - Thought, Matter, Energy, Time and Entropy - by following one of four archetypal Paths (Dynast, Hero, Paragon, Polymath) to ascend into a multi-dimensional higher entity. They're gods, but they don't work the same way as the gods of Great Wheel do.
*'''[[Exarch]]s''' hail from the World Axis, and the term basically means "any powerful, unique, and immortal servant of a full-fledged god". In essence, the World Axis uses "God" to refer "Greater Deity" and "Exarch" to refer to "any divine entity below that in power".

==Historical Deities==
Whilst D&D has never shied away from creating gods of its own division for its various campaign settings, [[Gygax]] and his buddies were big mythology and history fans, so they eagerly explored the idea of using various "Pagan" religions as being real things in the D&D multiverse. This led to the [[Deities & Demigods]] [[splatbook]]. Whether or not people actually ''like'' this idea of "defictionalizing" real-world mythologies, which people can get rather touchy about... well...

{{D&D-Historical-Deities}}

==[[Dragonlance]]==
The gods of Dragonlance each have a constellation in the night sky or one of the three moons. When a god walks in the world among mortals, that constellation is absent from the sky, which is a dead giveaway to the other gods.

;Gods of Good
* Branchala (the harp), music, inspiration, bards
* Habbakuk (the phoenix), persistence, animals, rangers
* Kiri-Jolith (the bison's head), unity, strength, fighters
* Majere (the rose), discipline, dreams, monks
* Mishakal (the figure-eight), restoration, motherhood, healers
* Paladine (the platinum dragon), majesty, aspirations, leaders
* Solinari (the silver moon), magic used for good, wizards

;Gods of Neutrality
* Chislev (a wandering star (planet)), instinct, natural world
* Gilean (the book), knowledge, librarians, scholars
* Lunitari (the red moon), magic used for neutrality, wizards
* Reorx (a red star), creation, craftsmen, dwarves and gnomes
* Shinare (a wandering star (planet)), interaction, agreements, merchants
* Sirrion (a wandering star (planet)), transformation, fire, artists and alchemists
* Zivilyn (a wandering star (planet)), wisdom, awareness, completely impartial

;Gods of Evil
* Chemosh (the goat skull), fatalism, despair, undead
* Hiddukel (the broken scale), exploitation, selfishness, thieves
* Morgion (the diseased hood), decay, disease, suffering
* Nuitari (the black (invisible) moon), magic used for evil, wizards
* Sargonnas (the condor), wrath, revenge, minotaurs
* Takhisis (the five-headed dragon), control, conquest, tyrants
* Zeboim (the dragon-turtle), strife, mood-swings, bane of sailors

{{D&D-Dragonlance-Deities}}

==[[Eberron]]==
Religion here is more like actual religion than normal ''D&D''. There's evidence for and against the gods existing, and divine magic is fueled by faith, rather than the actual god. Some atheist/agnostic clerics or fanatical believers in a state or charismatic individual can also access spells for this reason, and there are no alignment restrictions on priesthood. The Silver Flame has the worst kind of evil hypocrites, deluded into thinking they're doing the right thing, the Blood of Vol has decent, innocent people taken in by its cultish lies, and everything on a spectrum in between, and so long as their faith holds, their spells come out right.

*The Sovereign Host: Traditional "good" gods.
*The Dark Six: Traditional "evil" gods.
*The Silver Flame: Similar to Medival Catholicism
*The Dragon Below: Demon worship.
*The Lord of Blades: A [[warforged]]-supremacist preaching the death or enslavement of all the fleshies. Not ''actually'' a god, but his followers are such mad fanatics that they can manifest divine magic anyway.
*The Blood of Vol: Humanism with some Undeath mixed in. Most members don’t know about the evil cult running things from behind the scenes..
*The Path of Light: Kalashtar religion opposing the Quori.
*The Path of Inspiration: Quori-founded religion that ''looks'' like a peaceful religion but is actually helping them come into the world.
*The Becoming God: A bunch of warforged trying to build their own god. Probably not actually the Lord of Blades, though he certainly wants to be, and there's some overlap with his followers.

{{D&D-Eberron-Faiths}}

==[[Forgotten Realms]]==
{{D&D5e-FR-Deities}}

==[[Ghostwalk]]==
{{Ghostwalk-Deities}}

==[[Greyhawk]]==
{{D&D-Greyhawk-Deities}}

To make things more complicated, the gods that appear in the Flanaess originated from a number of ethnic groups appearing in the setting. The Oerdian, Baklunish, Flan and Suloise peoples all have their own gods, some of them overlapping. Some gods are revered by multiple groups and have no direct origin, while others are worshipped in only one region. Below are listed a number of these deities.

;Greater Deities
*[[Beory]], the Earth mother
*[[Boccob]], god of magic, arcane knowledge, balance and foresight.
*[[Incabulos]], god of plague, famine, disease and disaster.
*[[Istus]], goddess of of fate, destiny and the future.
*[[Nerull]], god of death, darkness, murder and the underworld.
*[[Pelor]], god of sun, light, strength and healing. More humans worship Pelor than any other deity.
*[[Rao]], god of peace and reason.

;Intermediate Deities
*[[Celestian]], god of the stars, wanderers and space.
*[[Ehlonna]], goddess of forests, woodlands, flora & fauna, and fertility.
*[[Erythnul]], god of hate, envy, malice, panic, ugliness, and slaughter.
*[[Fharlanghn]], god of horizons, distance, travel, and roads.
*[[Heironeous]], god of chivalry, justice, honor, war, daring, and valor.
*[[Hextor]], god of war, discord, massacres, conflict, fitness, and tyranny.
*[[Kord]], god of athletics, sports, brawling, strength, and courage.
*[[Lendor]], god of time, patience and study.
*[[Obad-Hai]], god of nature, freedom, hunting, and beasts.
*[[Olidammara]], god of music, revels, wine, rogues, humor, and tricks. Tends to fuck with the other gods for the hell of it.
*[[Pholtus]], god of law, order, light, the sun and the moons.
*[[Procan]], god of the seas, sea life and navigation.
*[[Ralishaz]], god of chance, misfortune and insanity.
*[[Saint Cuthbert]], god of common sense, wisdom, zeal, honesty, truth, and discipline. Needless to say, he's all but dead in the [[Warhammer 40k|future]].
*[[Tharizdun]], god of entropy, insanity and darkness.
*[[Ulaa]], goddess of mountains, mining and gemstones.
*[[Wee Jas]], goddess of magic, death, vanity, and law.
*[[Zilchus]], god of trade and money.

;Lesser Deities
*[[Vecna]] god of secrets.
*[[Xan Yae]]

;Demi-Gods
*[[Wastri]]
*[[Ye'Cind]], [[Alignment#Chaotic_Good|Chaotic]] [[Seldarine|elven deity]] of music, enchantment, and magick.
*[[Zagyg]], deification of [[Gygax]] himself.
*[[Zuoken]]

==[[Mystara]]==
In Mystara, instead of Gods you have the Immortals, mortal beings who reached divinity through their actions in life and sponsorship by other Immortals. The Immortals are ranked by power (Initiates being the recently ascended and the weakest, with Hierarchs being the oldest and strongest), and divided based on which of the five Spheres they belong to.
*Sphere of Matter is mainly Lawful, concerned with stability and order.
*Sphere of Energy is mainly Chaotic, concerned with change and transformation.
*Sphere of Time is mainly Neutral, concerned with balance, growth, and rebirth.
*Sphere of Thought is mainly Good, concerned with understanding and enlightnement.
*Sphere of Entrophy is mainly Evil, concerned with destruction and opposing all of the above Spheres and itself.

Above the Immortals are the [[Old Ones]] ([[Old Ones (Warhammer)|No, not those ones]]), who are to Immortals, what Immortals are to mortals.

It's also possible for [[PC]]s to become Immortals (of any Sphere except Entropy), and even Old Ones (provided they can reach the highest level in their Sphere, level 40, twice).
{{D&D-Mystara-Immortals}}

==Nentir Vale (Dawn War Pantheon)==
The default setting for D&D 4E.
{{D&D4e-Deities}}

==[[Planescape]]==
Too many gods to count, some less potent than a 20th level player character. You can use gods from any of the other campaign settings, even multiple settings. Planescape adventures are usually based in the city of [[Planescape#Sigil|Sigil]] which no god may enter, not even when [[Orcus]] was acting as the [[BBEG]] of the entire AD&D 2nd edition.

Pantheons that have been mentioned in Planescape include:

;D&D
*[[Birthright]]
*[[Dragonlance]]
*[[Forgotten Realms]]
*[[Greyhawk]]

;Real life
*Babylonian
*Celtic
*Chinese
*Egyptian
*Finnish
*Greek
*Indian
*Japanese
*Native American
*Norse
*Sumerian

The [[Lady of Pain]] isn't here because she is not a god.

==Racial==
{{D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

These deities appear in several campaign settings (including [[Forgotten Realms]] and [[Greyhawk]]) as part of their racial pantheons. Except when they're dead.
*[[Annam]], god of giants.
*[[Bahamut]], god of good dragons.
*[[Blibdoolpoolp]], god of kuo-toas.
*[[Corellon Larethian]], god of [[elves]], magic, music, and arts.
*[[Garl Glittergold]], god of [[gnomes]], humor, and gemcutting.
*[[Gruumsh]], god of [[orcs]].
*[[Kurtulmak]] god of [[kobold]]s.
*[[Lolth]], goddess of [[Drow]] and spiders.
*[[Moradin]], god of [[dwarves]].
*[[Tiamat]], goddess of evil dragons.
*[[Yondalla]], goddess of [[halflings]].

==[[Ravenloft]]==
Many of the gods of Ravenloft are likely not real, but people who worship them can gain spells anyway because the [[Dark Powers]] grant divine magic in their place. They may actually be granting the spells of all divine casters in Ravenloft no matter what deity they actually worship. So the Dark Powers may be the only really gods or otherwise godlike beings that have any real influence though people don't actually worship them.
{{D&D-Ravenloft-Deities}}

==Third Party Settings==

===[[Dragonmech]]===
Most people stopped believing in the gods after the moon got closer and clerics stopped getting spells properly. They do exist but are under siege from the lunar gods, who are also trying to steal their followers, which limits their capabilities. Along with that, some old and forgotten gods are coming back, a new god, [[Dotrak]], is being born from peoples faith in machines, and some people are gaining divine spells from their faith in ideas and philosophies.

===[[Dragonstar]]===
The Unification Church maintains that there are 12 "deitypes", or true gods, who created everything and from which all the other deities are derived, with some being combinations of two or more deitypes. Along with that you also have the Dualist Heresy who say that there are only two true gods.

===[[Humblewood]]===
The birdfolk and humblefolk both worship a pantheon known as the [[Amaranthine]], a collection of nature deities who each take responsibility for a specific aspect of nature. There are twelve Amaranthine in total; one spiritual patron for each of the [[beastfolk]] races of the setting, plus a duotheistic pair of pantheon leaders who, whilst depicted as birds, are regarded as above such a divide and thusly are connected to all races equally.
===[[Ptolus]]===
In Ptolus, most people follow [[Lothian]], who is Jesus and whose church is the Roman Catholic Church. The said church went about oppressing all the other faiths until just 200 years ago when they lost enough power, and became a bit more tolerant, to allow other faiths to gain momentum again. You also have things like the Temple of Excellence, whose halfling cleric has divine spells simply because he believes in himself hard enough, and the cults of chaos who worship [[The Galchutt|various gribbly things]].

{{D&D-Ptolus-Deities}}

===[[Scarred Lands]]===
The world underwent a fantasy Titanomachy, i.e. mortal-friendly gods took over things from the less-friendly titans. There's the eight main gods, and a host of minor demigods, and titan-worshippers are hiding in the shadows, well except for the followers of [[Denev]]. In other places you have the [[Ushada]], the animistic spirits of everything, and the [[Agency of the Emperor]] in the Dragon Lands.

{{D&D-SL-Faiths}}

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
File:Greyhawk1.gif|Priests of [[Pholtus]], [[Al'Akbar]], [[Saint Cuthbert]], [[Heironeous]], and [[Hextor]]
File:Greyhawk2.gif|Priests of [[Lendor]], [[Istus]], [[Boccob]], [[Celestian]], and [[Fharlaghn]]
File:Greyhawk3.gif|Priests of [[Iuz]], [[Nerull]], [[Tharizdun]], [[Vecna]], and [[Wastri]]
File:Greyhawk4.gif|Priests of [[Sehanine Moonbow]], [[Mouqol]], [[Rao]], [[Zuoken]], and [[Xan Yae]]
File:Greyhawk5.gif|Priests of [[Kurell]], [[Trithereon]], [[Wenta]], [[Ralishaz]], and [[Kord]]
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category: Planescape]]

Gods of Dungeons & Dragons

2020-06-12T06:50:33Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: /* Third Party Settings */

Within all roleplaying games (outside of Warhammer 40k's Dark Heresy, where thinking outside the box is [[Heresy]]) there are deities. Whether they are good or bad, they exist.

This list will more or less contain the versions of the deities from 3.5 to the latest edition, and how they can be used to portray characters in your settings.

==Infobox==
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = What the god is called.
|Symbol = What special marking worshippers use to signal their faith.
|Aliases = Other names and titles the god is known by.
|Alignment = Does this need explaining?
|Divine Rank = How the god ranks amongst its own kind.
|Pantheon = What group(s) of gods this god belongs to.
|Portfolio = What this god is responsible for.
|Domains = What [[Cleric Domain]]s it bestows.
|Home Plane = Place of residence in the multiverse.
|Worshippers = Who actually worships this god.
|Favoured Weapon = What faithful worshippers consider best to protect themselves with.
}}
The information box that should eventually grace each god's page, summing up their information in a nutshell.
{{clear}}

==Types of Religions==
These are how religions are categorized in D&D.

===Loose & Tight Pantheons===
Loose pantheons are the default for D&D. A bunch of gods with their own portfolio exist, have varying relationships with other deities, their own myths and doctrines, and each deity tries to advance their own portfolio and doctrine in the world.

Tight pantheons differ in that the gods usually have either a ruler among them, or some other body of myths, doctrine, or rituals common with them, with an aberrant deity or two whose worship is frowned upon. Most people in either of them are either polytheistic or henotheistic, acknowledge the other gods but only worship one or some of them.

===Mystery Cults===
Cults of a single deity, or at most a handful of deities, where the personal relationship with the deity is emphasized. Largely based on a ritual of initiation where the person is mystically identified with the deity in question, and are taught their own unique myths. Often associated with gods of nature, and a part of other religious systems. [[Dennari]]'s faith is an example of deity with a mystery cult.

===Monotheism===
You probably know what monotheism means, and if you don't look it up ya dingus! In D&D, monotheistic deities have aspects who the regular people worship. [[Taiia]] is an example of a monotheistic D&D deity.

===Dualism===
Here, you two opposing forces (Law vs. Chaos, Good Vs. Evil, etc.) fighting each other, and the whole world is the stage for their conflict. Most believe that one is good and the other is evil, but some say that the two must remain at balance for the best result. [[Elishar]] and [[Toldoth]] are examples of a dualistic religion and its deities.

===Animism===
Spirits are everywhere here, and I mean literally everywhere, a tree has its spirit, as does everyone of its leaves, and so does the mountain, the sun and moon, the river, your computer, and that pebble over there. Most people here tend give praise and sacrifices to a specific spirit depending on the occasion and situation, whiles a [[cleric]] worships a handful of them as his or her patrons.

An undetermined/unexplored form of Animism is the presumed default religion of the [[Druid]]s, which is literally why that class exists as a separate thing to the Nature God Clerics. In [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]], this desire to give druids a deeper meaning led to the creation of the [[Primal Spirits]] as ''the'' animistic religion of the [[World Axis]] cosmology.

===Forces & Philosophies===
Of course, some gain their powers from their devotion and beliefs of some ideal or philosophy (honor, freedom, wealth, power, etc.) or simply worship forces of either nature or magic, with deities being just personal manifestations of impersonal forces and philosophies. They don't deny the existance of deities, they just think them as too much like the mortals who worship them.

==Divine Ranks==
In D&D, deities have a rank, ranging from quasi-deity to greater deity. All it really means is that the greater deities rank the more powerful they are, more generalized their portfolio's are, and, depending on the setting, how many worshippers they have. The ranks shown here are the ones used in 3.5, and from bottom to top they are:
*'''Quasi-Deity:''' Not quite gods but still immortal and powerful beings. Planar powers ([[Archdevil]]s, [[Animal Lord]]s, [[Celestia|the Hebdomad]], etc.), [[Elder Evils]], and [[Vestige]]s go here.
*'''Hero-Deity:''' Ascended mortals, often sponsored by other gods, and descendants of mortals and deities go here. Often have very specialized portfolios.
*'''Demigod:''' Here be gods proper. From here on they can have their own realms in the [[Outer Planes]], and grant spells to their worshippers depending on the setting.
*'''Lesser Deity:''' More powerful than demigods and more widely worshipped.
*'''Intermediate Deity:''' More powerful than lesser deities and more widely worshipped.
*'''Greater Deity:''' The leaders of pantheons, usually, and gods of common nouns, concepts, and universal forces (magic, sun, nature, etc.) go here.
*'''Overdeity:''' Gods in charge of other gods, often the ones who decide whether or not someone becomes a god. Don't grant spells and have no worshippers, being beyond the need for them.

There are also two unique divine ranks that are tied to cosmologies outside of the [[Great Wheel]]...
*'''[[Mystaran Immortal]]s''' are named as such because they are tied to the nameless cosmology of [[Mystara]], which due to its basis in [[Sword & Sorcery]] meets [[Science Fantasy]] "Pulp Fantasy" uses a complex system of dimensions rather than planes. Immortals are former mortals who have attuned themselves to one of the five Spheres that make up the pillars of reality - Thought, Matter, Energy, Time and Entropy - by following one of four archetypal Paths (Dynast, Hero, Paragon, Polymath) to ascend into a multi-dimensional higher entity. They're gods, but they don't work the same way as the gods of Great Wheel do.
*'''[[Exarch]]s''' hail from the World Axis, and the term basically means "any powerful, unique, and immortal servant of a full-fledged god". In essence, the World Axis uses "God" to refer "Greater Deity" and "Exarch" to refer to "any divine entity below that in power".

==Historical Deities==
Whilst D&D has never shied away from creating gods of its own division for its various campaign settings, [[Gygax]] and his buddies were big mythology and history fans, so they eagerly explored the idea of using various "Pagan" religions as being real things in the D&D multiverse. This led to the [[Deities & Demigods]] [[splatbook]]. Whether or not people actually ''like'' this idea of "defictionalizing" real-world mythologies, which people can get rather touchy about... well...

{{D&D-Historical-Deities}}

==[[Dragonlance]]==
The gods of Dragonlance each have a constellation in the night sky or one of the three moons. When a god walks in the world among mortals, that constellation is absent from the sky, which is a dead giveaway to the other gods.

;Gods of Good
* Branchala (the harp), music, inspiration, bards
* Habbakuk (the phoenix), persistence, animals, rangers
* Kiri-Jolith (the bison's head), unity, strength, fighters
* Majere (the rose), discipline, dreams, monks
* Mishakal (the figure-eight), restoration, motherhood, healers
* Paladine (the platinum dragon), majesty, aspirations, leaders
* Solinari (the silver moon), magic used for good, wizards

;Gods of Neutrality
* Chislev (a wandering star (planet)), instinct, natural world
* Gilean (the book), knowledge, librarians, scholars
* Lunitari (the red moon), magic used for neutrality, wizards
* Reorx (a red star), creation, craftsmen, dwarves and gnomes
* Shinare (a wandering star (planet)), interaction, agreements, merchants
* Sirrion (a wandering star (planet)), transformation, fire, artists and alchemists
* Zivilyn (a wandering star (planet)), wisdom, awareness, completely impartial

;Gods of Evil
* Chemosh (the goat skull), fatalism, despair, undead
* Hiddukel (the broken scale), exploitation, selfishness, thieves
* Morgion (the diseased hood), decay, disease, suffering
* Nuitari (the black (invisible) moon), magic used for evil, wizards
* Sargonnas (the condor), wrath, revenge, minotaurs
* Takhisis (the five-headed dragon), control, conquest, tyrants
* Zeboim (the dragon-turtle), strife, mood-swings, bane of sailors

{{D&D-Dragonlance-Deities}}

==[[Eberron]]==
Religion here is more like actual religion than normal ''D&D''. There's evidence for and against the gods existing, and divine magic is fueled by faith, rather than the actual god. Some atheist/agnostic clerics or fanatical believers in a state or charismatic individual can also access spells for this reason, and there are no alignment restrictions on priesthood. The Silver Flame has the worst kind of evil hypocrites, deluded into thinking they're doing the right thing, the Blood of Vol has decent, innocent people taken in by its cultish lies, and everything on a spectrum in between, and so long as their faith holds, their spells come out right.

*The Sovereign Host: Traditional "good" gods.
*The Dark Six: Traditional "evil" gods.
*The Silver Flame: Similar to Medival Catholicism
*The Dragon Below: Demon worship.
*The Lord of Blades: A [[warforged]]-supremacist preaching the death or enslavement of all the fleshies. Not ''actually'' a god, but his followers are such mad fanatics that they can manifest divine magic anyway.
*The Blood of Vol: Humanism with some Undeath mixed in. Most members don’t know about the evil cult running things from behind the scenes..
*The Path of Light: Kalashtar religion opposing the Quori.
*The Path of Inspiration: Quori-founded religion that ''looks'' like a peaceful religion but is actually helping them come into the world.
*The Becoming God: A bunch of warforged trying to build their own god. Probably not actually the Lord of Blades, though he certainly wants to be, and there's some overlap with his followers.

{{D&D-Eberron-Faiths}}

==[[Forgotten Realms]]==
{{D&D5e-FR-Deities}}

==[[Ghostwalk]]==
{{Ghostwalk-Deities}}

==[[Greyhawk]]==
{{D&D-Greyhawk-Deities}}

To make things more complicated, the gods that appear in the Flanaess originated from a number of ethnic groups appearing in the setting. The Oerdian, Baklunish, Flan and Suloise peoples all have their own gods, some of them overlapping. Some gods are revered by multiple groups and have no direct origin, while others are worshipped in only one region. Below are listed a number of these deities.

;Greater Deities
*[[Beory]], the Earth mother
*[[Boccob]], god of magic, arcane knowledge, balance and foresight.
*[[Incabulos]], god of plague, famine, disease and disaster.
*[[Istus]], goddess of of fate, destiny and the future.
*[[Nerull]], god of death, darkness, murder and the underworld.
*[[Pelor]], god of sun, light, strength and healing. More humans worship Pelor than any other deity.
*[[Rao]], god of peace and reason.

;Intermediate Deities
*[[Celestian]], god of the stars, wanderers and space.
*[[Ehlonna]], goddess of forests, woodlands, flora & fauna, and fertility.
*[[Erythnul]], god of hate, envy, malice, panic, ugliness, and slaughter.
*[[Fharlanghn]], god of horizons, distance, travel, and roads.
*[[Heironeous]], god of chivalry, justice, honor, war, daring, and valor.
*[[Hextor]], god of war, discord, massacres, conflict, fitness, and tyranny.
*[[Kord]], god of athletics, sports, brawling, strength, and courage.
*[[Lendor]], god of time, patience and study.
*[[Obad-Hai]], god of nature, freedom, hunting, and beasts.
*[[Olidammara]], god of music, revels, wine, rogues, humor, and tricks. Tends to fuck with the other gods for the hell of it.
*[[Pholtus]], god of law, order, light, the sun and the moons.
*[[Procan]], god of the seas, sea life and navigation.
*[[Ralishaz]], god of chance, misfortune and insanity.
*[[Saint Cuthbert]], god of common sense, wisdom, zeal, honesty, truth, and discipline. Needless to say, he's all but dead in the [[Warhammer 40k|future]].
*[[Tharizdun]], god of entropy, insanity and darkness.
*[[Ulaa]], goddess of mountains, mining and gemstones.
*[[Wee Jas]], goddess of magic, death, vanity, and law.
*[[Zilchus]], god of trade and money.

;Lesser Deities
*[[Vecna]] god of secrets.
*[[Xan Yae]]

;Demi-Gods
*[[Wastri]]
*[[Ye'Cind]], [[Alignment#Chaotic_Good|Chaotic]] [[Seldarine|elven deity]] of music, enchantment, and magick.
*[[Zagyg]], deification of [[Gygax]] himself.
*[[Zuoken]]

==[[Mystara]]==
In Mystara, instead of Gods you have the Immortals, mortal beings who reached divinity through their actions in life and sponsorship by other Immortals. The Immortals are ranked by power (Initiates being the recently ascended and the weakest, with Hierarchs being the oldest and strongest), and divided based on which of the five Spheres they belong to.
*Sphere of Matter is mainly Lawful, concerned with stability and order.
*Sphere of Energy is mainly Chaotic, concerned with change and transformation.
*Sphere of Time is mainly Neutral, concerned with balance, growth, and rebirth.
*Sphere of Thought is mainly Good, concerned with understanding and enlightnement.
*Sphere of Entrophy is mainly Evil, concerned with destruction and opposing all of the above Spheres and itself.

Above the Immortals are the [[Old Ones]] ([[Old Ones (Warhammer)|No, not those ones]]), who are to Immortals, what Immortals are to mortals.

It's also possible for [[PC]]s to become Immortals (of any Sphere except Entropy), and even Old Ones (provided they can reach the highest level in their Sphere, level 40, twice).
{{D&D-Mystara-Immortals}}

==Nentir Vale (Dawn War Pantheon)==
The default setting for D&D 4E.
{{D&D4e-Deities}}

==[[Planescape]]==
Too many gods to count, some less potent than a 20th level player character. You can use gods from any of the other campaign settings, even multiple settings. Planescape adventures are usually based in the city of [[Planescape#Sigil|Sigil]] which no god may enter, not even when [[Orcus]] was acting as the [[BBEG]] of the entire AD&D 2nd edition.

Pantheons that have been mentioned in Planescape include:

;D&D
*[[Birthright]]
*[[Dragonlance]]
*[[Forgotten Realms]]
*[[Greyhawk]]

;Real life
*Babylonian
*Celtic
*Chinese
*Egyptian
*Finnish
*Greek
*Indian
*Japanese
*Native American
*Norse
*Sumerian

The [[Lady of Pain]] isn't here because she is not a god.

==Racial==
{{D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

These deities appear in several campaign settings (including [[Forgotten Realms]] and [[Greyhawk]]) as part of their racial pantheons. Except when they're dead.
*[[Annam]], god of giants.
*[[Bahamut]], god of good dragons.
*[[Blibdoolpoolp]], god of kuo-toas.
*[[Corellon Larethian]], god of [[elves]], magic, music, and arts.
*[[Garl Glittergold]], god of [[gnomes]], humor, and gemcutting.
*[[Gruumsh]], god of [[orcs]].
*[[Kurtulmak]] god of [[kobold]]s.
*[[Lolth]], goddess of [[Drow]] and spiders.
*[[Moradin]], god of [[dwarves]].
*[[Tiamat]], goddess of evil dragons.
*[[Yondalla]], goddess of [[halflings]].

==[[Ravenloft]]==
Many of the gods of Ravenloft are likely not real, but people who worship them can gain spells anyway because the [[Dark Powers]] grant divine magic in their place. They may actually be granting the spells of all divine casters in Ravenloft no matter what deity they actually worship. So the Dark Powers may be the only really gods or otherwise godlike beings that have any real influence though people don't actually worship them.
{{D&D-Ravenloft-Deities}}

==Third Party Settings==

===[[Dragonmech]]===
Most people stopped believing in the gods after the moon got closer and clerics stopped getting spells properly. They do exist but are under siege from the lunar gods, who are also trying to steal their followers, which limits their capabilities. Along with that, some old and forgotten gods are coming back, a new god, [[Dotrak]], is being born from peoples faith in machines, and some people are gaining divine spells from their faith in ideas and philosophies.

===[[Dragonstar]]===
The Unification Church maintains that there are 12 "deitypes", or true gods, who created everything and from which all the other deities are derived, with some being combinations of two or more deitypes. Along with that you also have the Dualist Heresy who say that there are only two true gods.

==[[Humblewood]]==
The birdfolk and humblefolk both worship a pantheon known as the [[Amaranthine]], a collection of nature deities who each take responsibility for a specific aspect of nature. There are twelve Amaranthine in total; one spiritual patron for each of the [[beastfolk]] races of the setting, plus a duotheistic pair of pantheon leaders who, whilst depicted as birds, are regarded as above such a divide and thusly are connected to all races equally.
===[[Ptolus]]===
In Ptolus, most people follow [[Lothian]], who is Jesus and whose church is the Roman Catholic Church. The said church went about oppressing all the other faiths until just 200 years ago when they lost enough power, and became a bit more tolerant, to allow other faiths to gain momentum again. You also have things like the Temple of Excellence, whose halfling cleric has divine spells simply because he believes in himself hard enough, and the cults of chaos who worship [[The Galchutt|various gribbly things]].

{{D&D-Ptolus-Deities}}

===[[Scarred Lands]]===
The world underwent a fantasy Titanomachy, i.e. mortal-friendly gods took over things from the less-friendly titans. There's the eight main gods, and a host of minor demigods, and titan-worshippers are hiding in the shadows, well except for the followers of [[Denev]]. In other places you have the [[Ushada]], the animistic spirits of everything, and the [[Agency of the Emperor]] in the Dragon Lands.

{{D&D-SL-Faiths}}

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
File:Greyhawk1.gif|Priests of [[Pholtus]], [[Al'Akbar]], [[Saint Cuthbert]], [[Heironeous]], and [[Hextor]]
File:Greyhawk2.gif|Priests of [[Lendor]], [[Istus]], [[Boccob]], [[Celestian]], and [[Fharlaghn]]
File:Greyhawk3.gif|Priests of [[Iuz]], [[Nerull]], [[Tharizdun]], [[Vecna]], and [[Wastri]]
File:Greyhawk4.gif|Priests of [[Sehanine Moonbow]], [[Mouqol]], [[Rao]], [[Zuoken]], and [[Xan Yae]]
File:Greyhawk5.gif|Priests of [[Kurell]], [[Trithereon]], [[Wenta]], [[Ralishaz]], and [[Kord]]
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category: Planescape]]

Gods of Dungeons & Dragons

2020-06-12T06:46:14Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: /* Ravenloft */

Within all roleplaying games (outside of Warhammer 40k's Dark Heresy, where thinking outside the box is [[Heresy]]) there are deities. Whether they are good or bad, they exist.

This list will more or less contain the versions of the deities from 3.5 to the latest edition, and how they can be used to portray characters in your settings.

==Infobox==
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = What the god is called.
|Symbol = What special marking worshippers use to signal their faith.
|Aliases = Other names and titles the god is known by.
|Alignment = Does this need explaining?
|Divine Rank = How the god ranks amongst its own kind.
|Pantheon = What group(s) of gods this god belongs to.
|Portfolio = What this god is responsible for.
|Domains = What [[Cleric Domain]]s it bestows.
|Home Plane = Place of residence in the multiverse.
|Worshippers = Who actually worships this god.
|Favoured Weapon = What faithful worshippers consider best to protect themselves with.
}}
The information box that should eventually grace each god's page, summing up their information in a nutshell.
{{clear}}

==Types of Religions==
These are how religions are categorized in D&D.

===Loose & Tight Pantheons===
Loose pantheons are the default for D&D. A bunch of gods with their own portfolio exist, have varying relationships with other deities, their own myths and doctrines, and each deity tries to advance their own portfolio and doctrine in the world.

Tight pantheons differ in that the gods usually have either a ruler among them, or some other body of myths, doctrine, or rituals common with them, with an aberrant deity or two whose worship is frowned upon. Most people in either of them are either polytheistic or henotheistic, acknowledge the other gods but only worship one or some of them.

===Mystery Cults===
Cults of a single deity, or at most a handful of deities, where the personal relationship with the deity is emphasized. Largely based on a ritual of initiation where the person is mystically identified with the deity in question, and are taught their own unique myths. Often associated with gods of nature, and a part of other religious systems. [[Dennari]]'s faith is an example of deity with a mystery cult.

===Monotheism===
You probably know what monotheism means, and if you don't look it up ya dingus! In D&D, monotheistic deities have aspects who the regular people worship. [[Taiia]] is an example of a monotheistic D&D deity.

===Dualism===
Here, you two opposing forces (Law vs. Chaos, Good Vs. Evil, etc.) fighting each other, and the whole world is the stage for their conflict. Most believe that one is good and the other is evil, but some say that the two must remain at balance for the best result. [[Elishar]] and [[Toldoth]] are examples of a dualistic religion and its deities.

===Animism===
Spirits are everywhere here, and I mean literally everywhere, a tree has its spirit, as does everyone of its leaves, and so does the mountain, the sun and moon, the river, your computer, and that pebble over there. Most people here tend give praise and sacrifices to a specific spirit depending on the occasion and situation, whiles a [[cleric]] worships a handful of them as his or her patrons.

An undetermined/unexplored form of Animism is the presumed default religion of the [[Druid]]s, which is literally why that class exists as a separate thing to the Nature God Clerics. In [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]], this desire to give druids a deeper meaning led to the creation of the [[Primal Spirits]] as ''the'' animistic religion of the [[World Axis]] cosmology.

===Forces & Philosophies===
Of course, some gain their powers from their devotion and beliefs of some ideal or philosophy (honor, freedom, wealth, power, etc.) or simply worship forces of either nature or magic, with deities being just personal manifestations of impersonal forces and philosophies. They don't deny the existance of deities, they just think them as too much like the mortals who worship them.

==Divine Ranks==
In D&D, deities have a rank, ranging from quasi-deity to greater deity. All it really means is that the greater deities rank the more powerful they are, more generalized their portfolio's are, and, depending on the setting, how many worshippers they have. The ranks shown here are the ones used in 3.5, and from bottom to top they are:
*'''Quasi-Deity:''' Not quite gods but still immortal and powerful beings. Planar powers ([[Archdevil]]s, [[Animal Lord]]s, [[Celestia|the Hebdomad]], etc.), [[Elder Evils]], and [[Vestige]]s go here.
*'''Hero-Deity:''' Ascended mortals, often sponsored by other gods, and descendants of mortals and deities go here. Often have very specialized portfolios.
*'''Demigod:''' Here be gods proper. From here on they can have their own realms in the [[Outer Planes]], and grant spells to their worshippers depending on the setting.
*'''Lesser Deity:''' More powerful than demigods and more widely worshipped.
*'''Intermediate Deity:''' More powerful than lesser deities and more widely worshipped.
*'''Greater Deity:''' The leaders of pantheons, usually, and gods of common nouns, concepts, and universal forces (magic, sun, nature, etc.) go here.
*'''Overdeity:''' Gods in charge of other gods, often the ones who decide whether or not someone becomes a god. Don't grant spells and have no worshippers, being beyond the need for them.

There are also two unique divine ranks that are tied to cosmologies outside of the [[Great Wheel]]...
*'''[[Mystaran Immortal]]s''' are named as such because they are tied to the nameless cosmology of [[Mystara]], which due to its basis in [[Sword & Sorcery]] meets [[Science Fantasy]] "Pulp Fantasy" uses a complex system of dimensions rather than planes. Immortals are former mortals who have attuned themselves to one of the five Spheres that make up the pillars of reality - Thought, Matter, Energy, Time and Entropy - by following one of four archetypal Paths (Dynast, Hero, Paragon, Polymath) to ascend into a multi-dimensional higher entity. They're gods, but they don't work the same way as the gods of Great Wheel do.
*'''[[Exarch]]s''' hail from the World Axis, and the term basically means "any powerful, unique, and immortal servant of a full-fledged god". In essence, the World Axis uses "God" to refer "Greater Deity" and "Exarch" to refer to "any divine entity below that in power".

==Historical Deities==
Whilst D&D has never shied away from creating gods of its own division for its various campaign settings, [[Gygax]] and his buddies were big mythology and history fans, so they eagerly explored the idea of using various "Pagan" religions as being real things in the D&D multiverse. This led to the [[Deities & Demigods]] [[splatbook]]. Whether or not people actually ''like'' this idea of "defictionalizing" real-world mythologies, which people can get rather touchy about... well...

{{D&D-Historical-Deities}}

==[[Dragonlance]]==
The gods of Dragonlance each have a constellation in the night sky or one of the three moons. When a god walks in the world among mortals, that constellation is absent from the sky, which is a dead giveaway to the other gods.

;Gods of Good
* Branchala (the harp), music, inspiration, bards
* Habbakuk (the phoenix), persistence, animals, rangers
* Kiri-Jolith (the bison's head), unity, strength, fighters
* Majere (the rose), discipline, dreams, monks
* Mishakal (the figure-eight), restoration, motherhood, healers
* Paladine (the platinum dragon), majesty, aspirations, leaders
* Solinari (the silver moon), magic used for good, wizards

;Gods of Neutrality
* Chislev (a wandering star (planet)), instinct, natural world
* Gilean (the book), knowledge, librarians, scholars
* Lunitari (the red moon), magic used for neutrality, wizards
* Reorx (a red star), creation, craftsmen, dwarves and gnomes
* Shinare (a wandering star (planet)), interaction, agreements, merchants
* Sirrion (a wandering star (planet)), transformation, fire, artists and alchemists
* Zivilyn (a wandering star (planet)), wisdom, awareness, completely impartial

;Gods of Evil
* Chemosh (the goat skull), fatalism, despair, undead
* Hiddukel (the broken scale), exploitation, selfishness, thieves
* Morgion (the diseased hood), decay, disease, suffering
* Nuitari (the black (invisible) moon), magic used for evil, wizards
* Sargonnas (the condor), wrath, revenge, minotaurs
* Takhisis (the five-headed dragon), control, conquest, tyrants
* Zeboim (the dragon-turtle), strife, mood-swings, bane of sailors

{{D&D-Dragonlance-Deities}}

==[[Eberron]]==
Religion here is more like actual religion than normal ''D&D''. There's evidence for and against the gods existing, and divine magic is fueled by faith, rather than the actual god. Some atheist/agnostic clerics or fanatical believers in a state or charismatic individual can also access spells for this reason, and there are no alignment restrictions on priesthood. The Silver Flame has the worst kind of evil hypocrites, deluded into thinking they're doing the right thing, the Blood of Vol has decent, innocent people taken in by its cultish lies, and everything on a spectrum in between, and so long as their faith holds, their spells come out right.

*The Sovereign Host: Traditional "good" gods.
*The Dark Six: Traditional "evil" gods.
*The Silver Flame: Similar to Medival Catholicism
*The Dragon Below: Demon worship.
*The Lord of Blades: A [[warforged]]-supremacist preaching the death or enslavement of all the fleshies. Not ''actually'' a god, but his followers are such mad fanatics that they can manifest divine magic anyway.
*The Blood of Vol: Humanism with some Undeath mixed in. Most members don’t know about the evil cult running things from behind the scenes..
*The Path of Light: Kalashtar religion opposing the Quori.
*The Path of Inspiration: Quori-founded religion that ''looks'' like a peaceful religion but is actually helping them come into the world.
*The Becoming God: A bunch of warforged trying to build their own god. Probably not actually the Lord of Blades, though he certainly wants to be, and there's some overlap with his followers.

{{D&D-Eberron-Faiths}}

==[[Forgotten Realms]]==
{{D&D5e-FR-Deities}}

==[[Ghostwalk]]==
{{Ghostwalk-Deities}}

==[[Greyhawk]]==
{{D&D-Greyhawk-Deities}}

To make things more complicated, the gods that appear in the Flanaess originated from a number of ethnic groups appearing in the setting. The Oerdian, Baklunish, Flan and Suloise peoples all have their own gods, some of them overlapping. Some gods are revered by multiple groups and have no direct origin, while others are worshipped in only one region. Below are listed a number of these deities.

;Greater Deities
*[[Beory]], the Earth mother
*[[Boccob]], god of magic, arcane knowledge, balance and foresight.
*[[Incabulos]], god of plague, famine, disease and disaster.
*[[Istus]], goddess of of fate, destiny and the future.
*[[Nerull]], god of death, darkness, murder and the underworld.
*[[Pelor]], god of sun, light, strength and healing. More humans worship Pelor than any other deity.
*[[Rao]], god of peace and reason.

;Intermediate Deities
*[[Celestian]], god of the stars, wanderers and space.
*[[Ehlonna]], goddess of forests, woodlands, flora & fauna, and fertility.
*[[Erythnul]], god of hate, envy, malice, panic, ugliness, and slaughter.
*[[Fharlanghn]], god of horizons, distance, travel, and roads.
*[[Heironeous]], god of chivalry, justice, honor, war, daring, and valor.
*[[Hextor]], god of war, discord, massacres, conflict, fitness, and tyranny.
*[[Kord]], god of athletics, sports, brawling, strength, and courage.
*[[Lendor]], god of time, patience and study.
*[[Obad-Hai]], god of nature, freedom, hunting, and beasts.
*[[Olidammara]], god of music, revels, wine, rogues, humor, and tricks. Tends to fuck with the other gods for the hell of it.
*[[Pholtus]], god of law, order, light, the sun and the moons.
*[[Procan]], god of the seas, sea life and navigation.
*[[Ralishaz]], god of chance, misfortune and insanity.
*[[Saint Cuthbert]], god of common sense, wisdom, zeal, honesty, truth, and discipline. Needless to say, he's all but dead in the [[Warhammer 40k|future]].
*[[Tharizdun]], god of entropy, insanity and darkness.
*[[Ulaa]], goddess of mountains, mining and gemstones.
*[[Wee Jas]], goddess of magic, death, vanity, and law.
*[[Zilchus]], god of trade and money.

;Lesser Deities
*[[Vecna]] god of secrets.
*[[Xan Yae]]

;Demi-Gods
*[[Wastri]]
*[[Ye'Cind]], [[Alignment#Chaotic_Good|Chaotic]] [[Seldarine|elven deity]] of music, enchantment, and magick.
*[[Zagyg]], deification of [[Gygax]] himself.
*[[Zuoken]]

==[[Mystara]]==
In Mystara, instead of Gods you have the Immortals, mortal beings who reached divinity through their actions in life and sponsorship by other Immortals. The Immortals are ranked by power (Initiates being the recently ascended and the weakest, with Hierarchs being the oldest and strongest), and divided based on which of the five Spheres they belong to.
*Sphere of Matter is mainly Lawful, concerned with stability and order.
*Sphere of Energy is mainly Chaotic, concerned with change and transformation.
*Sphere of Time is mainly Neutral, concerned with balance, growth, and rebirth.
*Sphere of Thought is mainly Good, concerned with understanding and enlightnement.
*Sphere of Entrophy is mainly Evil, concerned with destruction and opposing all of the above Spheres and itself.

Above the Immortals are the [[Old Ones]] ([[Old Ones (Warhammer)|No, not those ones]]), who are to Immortals, what Immortals are to mortals.

It's also possible for [[PC]]s to become Immortals (of any Sphere except Entropy), and even Old Ones (provided they can reach the highest level in their Sphere, level 40, twice).
{{D&D-Mystara-Immortals}}

==Nentir Vale (Dawn War Pantheon)==
The default setting for D&D 4E.
{{D&D4e-Deities}}

==[[Planescape]]==
Too many gods to count, some less potent than a 20th level player character. You can use gods from any of the other campaign settings, even multiple settings. Planescape adventures are usually based in the city of [[Planescape#Sigil|Sigil]] which no god may enter, not even when [[Orcus]] was acting as the [[BBEG]] of the entire AD&D 2nd edition.

Pantheons that have been mentioned in Planescape include:

;D&D
*[[Birthright]]
*[[Dragonlance]]
*[[Forgotten Realms]]
*[[Greyhawk]]

;Real life
*Babylonian
*Celtic
*Chinese
*Egyptian
*Finnish
*Greek
*Indian
*Japanese
*Native American
*Norse
*Sumerian

The [[Lady of Pain]] isn't here because she is not a god.

==Racial==
{{D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

These deities appear in several campaign settings (including [[Forgotten Realms]] and [[Greyhawk]]) as part of their racial pantheons. Except when they're dead.
*[[Annam]], god of giants.
*[[Bahamut]], god of good dragons.
*[[Blibdoolpoolp]], god of kuo-toas.
*[[Corellon Larethian]], god of [[elves]], magic, music, and arts.
*[[Garl Glittergold]], god of [[gnomes]], humor, and gemcutting.
*[[Gruumsh]], god of [[orcs]].
*[[Kurtulmak]] god of [[kobold]]s.
*[[Lolth]], goddess of [[Drow]] and spiders.
*[[Moradin]], god of [[dwarves]].
*[[Tiamat]], goddess of evil dragons.
*[[Yondalla]], goddess of [[halflings]].

==[[Ravenloft]]==
Many of the gods of Ravenloft are likely not real, but people who worship them can gain spells anyway because the [[Dark Powers]] grant divine magic in their place. They may actually be granting the spells of all divine casters in Ravenloft no matter what deity they actually worship. So the Dark Powers may be the only really gods or otherwise godlike beings that have any real influence though people don't actually worship them.
{{D&D-Ravenloft-Deities}}

==Third Party Settings==

===[[Dragonmech]]===
Most people stopped believing in the gods after the moon got closer and clerics stopped getting spells properly. They do exist but are under siege from the lunar gods, who are also trying to steal their followers, which limits their capabilities. Along with that, some old and forgotten gods are coming back, a new god, [[Dotrak]], is being born from peoples faith in machines, and some people are gaining divine spells from their faith in ideas and philosophies.

===[[Dragonstar]]===
The Unification Church maintains that there are 12 "deitypes", or true gods, who created everything and from which all the other deities are derived, with some being combinations of two or more deitypes. Along with that you also have the Dualist Heresy who say that there are only two true gods.

===[[Ptolus]]===
In Ptolus, most people follow [[Lothian]], who is Jesus and whose church is the Roman Catholic Church. The said church went about oppressing all the other faiths until just 200 years ago when they lost enough power, and became a bit more tolerant, to allow other faiths to gain momentum again. You also have things like the Temple of Excellence, whose halfling cleric has divine spells simply because he believes in himself hard enough, and the cults of chaos who worship [[The Galchutt|various gribbly things]].

{{D&D-Ptolus-Deities}}

===[[Scarred Lands]]===
The world underwent a fantasy Titanomachy, i.e. mortal-friendly gods took over things from the less-friendly titans. There's the eight main gods, and a host of minor demigods, and titan-worshippers are hiding in the shadows, well except for the followers of [[Denev]]. In other places you have the [[Ushada]], the animistic spirits of everything, and the [[Agency of the Emperor]] in the Dragon Lands.

{{D&D-SL-Faiths}}

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
File:Greyhawk1.gif|Priests of [[Pholtus]], [[Al'Akbar]], [[Saint Cuthbert]], [[Heironeous]], and [[Hextor]]
File:Greyhawk2.gif|Priests of [[Lendor]], [[Istus]], [[Boccob]], [[Celestian]], and [[Fharlaghn]]
File:Greyhawk3.gif|Priests of [[Iuz]], [[Nerull]], [[Tharizdun]], [[Vecna]], and [[Wastri]]
File:Greyhawk4.gif|Priests of [[Sehanine Moonbow]], [[Mouqol]], [[Rao]], [[Zuoken]], and [[Xan Yae]]
File:Greyhawk5.gif|Priests of [[Kurell]], [[Trithereon]], [[Wenta]], [[Ralishaz]], and [[Kord]]
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category: Planescape]]

Dinosaur

2020-06-12T03:12:12Z

2601:203:480:4C60:8A1:B1F6:D53A:1F6E: The idea that Komodo dragons kill their prey using bacteria is no longer believed to be true.

{{Stub}}
[[Image:Tyrannosaurus.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A ''Tyrannosaurus rex''! (Now inaccurate, the real thing was scaly in light of new research. Young ones had feathers though!)]]

'''Dinosaurs''' are a category of creatures of the clade Dinosauria, which first emerged around 250 million years ago, in the Triassic period. Generally these creatures have been classified as reptiles, with their name itself meaning "terrible" (deino) "lizard" (sauros), since their discovery and cataloging by modern science.
However due to recent discoveries, [[Skub|it created a large divide in the Paleontology community on whether they should still be classified as inherently reptile or something completely new.]]

Dinosaurs came to be the dominant form of large, scaly (or feathery), land dwelling life forms across all of earth's major continents through the Jurassic and Cretaceous period. Dinosaurs were, and are, the biggest animals ever to live on the planet, [[Skub|however, what counts as THE biggest is often up in debate by the scientific community,]] as this [[RAGE|usually this ends in flamewars between Sauropod-Fanboys and Cetacean-Fanboys]] (yes, they do exist, kind of like the relationship between [[Star Wars]] fanboys and [[Star Trek]] fanboys), but the more neutral agreement is Sauropods=Land and Whales=Ocean.

They are regarded as [[Fist of the North Star|awesome]] for several reasons....
*They appeal to the sensational because they're "monsters", but unlike most, they actually DID exist.
*It's also been postulated that dinosaurs were the inspiration for [[Dragon|dragons]] with people discovering dinosaur bones and making up stories about them, though that is debatable.
*Quite a few of the more massive dinosaurs were larger (as in '''much''' larger) then the biggest living land mammal, the African Elephant. In fact, the ''Paraceratherium orgosensis'' (a relative to the direct ancestor to the modern Rhinoceros) which was the largest land mammal to have ever existed, would be classified as "small-sized" by sauropod standards.
*The largest sauropods are so colossal that they could be classified as [[Godzilla|"Kaiju-Size"]] and could furthermore cause mini-earthquakes and create sonic booms with their tails.
*A posited idea is that if the asteroid did not hit Earth, then it would be the [[Lizardmen|''Troodon'']] (arguably the most intelligent non-avian dinosaur, which resembled ''Velociraptor'') that would be building civilizations and spaceships rather than humans.
*Not even the [[Angry Marines]] will '''DARE''' fuck with these things. They [[rage]] all the time, but they're not ''that'' stubbornly, angrily boneheaded.
*[[Miniatures]] are easily and cheaply obtained. This is why they got into D&D in the first place (see down).

[[Tl;dr|Tl;dr,]] Dinosaurs are '''NOT''' to be fucked with.
[[Image:Dinosaur.jpg|thumb|right|A modern day dinosaur of the theropod lineage]]
Most lines of dinosaur were extinguished during the Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction Event some 66 million years ago. Most scientists actually do consider birds the only surviving branch of dinosaurs (that's right, its fair to say that '''all birds everywhere are living dinosaurs'''). The other close surviving relatives of dinosaurs are the crocodiles, a different branch of the archosaur family that carries on its traditions of eating whatever they want and [[Lizardfolk|giving no fucks about mammals]]. Contrary to popular belief, the Komodo dragon, a species of monitor lizard, wasn't descended from dinosaurs. It is, however, somewhat closely related to creatures commonly mistaken for dinosaurs - Mosasaurs.

==Why Dinosaurs are Relevant to /tg/==
* They're completely [[awesome]].
* They've existed as monsters to slay since the early days of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. The [[Eberron]] setting has them as animal companions for [[Halflings]].
* Cavalry mounts for [[Exodite]] [[Eldar]] in Warhammer 40k.
* Cavalry mounts for [[Lizardmen]] in WHFB.
** Cavalry mounts for [[Dark Elves|edgy and dark pointy ear fellows]] in WHFB.
* They are literary dragon without wings and the ability to spew flame.
** Ok, some of them can fly, but that's even more awesome.
*[[Tarrasque]]
* In [[Magic: The Gathering]], dinos were originally in the game, but were then retroactively treated as either lizards or beasts depending on the printing until [[Ixalan]] came along and gave us legitimate dinosaurs. Since then, all cards that depict dinosaurs have been errataed to have the Dinosaur creature type.

== Things people think are dinosaurs, but are not: ==
Some people think of dinosaur as any large extinct prehistoric reptile and tend to lump a bunch of non dinosaurs into the dinosaur category. These include...

*Pterosaurs: These flying archosaurs had among their ranks the largest flying creatures that ever lived and were the closest clade to dinosaurs, but are not actually dinosaurs. And anyone who says different needs to be introduced to the K-T asteroid there and then.
*Marine Reptiles: During the Mesozoic era there were a variety of large marine reptiles, including Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs, Pliosaurs, Mosasaurs and various other sea beasties. As these creatures are big, reptillian, and look like dinosaurs, the general public often lumps them in as dinosaurs. In truth these are a number of separate families that took to the sea.
*Synapsids: Before the dinosaurs really took off as the dominant form of life during the late Triassic period, the Synapsids, sometimes known as "mammal-like reptiles" were king. One member of this clade is ''Dimetrodon'' or "that fin-back lizard thing' in the Land Before Time and those sets of dinosaur toys your mom bought you when you were a kid". You can tell they're not dinosaurs (and this is a very loose definition) thanks to an extra opening in the skull behind the eye where jaw muscles attached and later became the Sphenoid bone which sits behind the eyes, specialized teeth including canine teeth, among many other distinguishing traits. As the name suggests these guys became the early mammals which turned into us. It's unknown at what point they began to give birth to live young and lactate, although since fur was an extremely late adaptation its generally thought there was a point where something that looked like a dinosaur had lizard <strike>tits</strike> teats.

<center><gallery>
Image:Hatzi.jpg|Hatzegopteryx, the largest living thing that could ever fly.
Image:Mosasaur.jpg|Mosasaur, a giant predatory monitor lizard from the time when sea monsters were real.
image:Gorgonopsid.jpg|Gorgonopsid, closer than you to a dinosaur but not a relative you'd invite over for tea.
</gallery></center>

==Major groups of dinosaurs==
Prepare for '''SCIENCE.''' The major two types of dinosaur are divided according to the shape of their hip bone.

===Saurischians===
The "lizard-hipped" dinosaurs. Ironically, birds are part of Saurischia.

====Theropods====
*Easy name: Meat-eaters
*Well known members: ''Tyrannosaurus'', ''Velociraptor'', ''Gallimimus''
*Awesome obscure members: ''Deinocheirus'', ''Yi'', ''Gypaetus'', ''Majungasaurus''

You know them well. The hunters of the prehistoric world. Theropods were likely the first group of dinosaurs to arise, and diversified quite a lot. Also the only group to survive the asteroid impact (and subsequent climate change). The loss of these awe- inspiring hunters was one of the only things to make [[Khorne]] sad. '''EVER'''. Then he [[RAGE]]D because there were no [[Psykers]] around at the time, so he couldn't have sent his [[Daemon]]s to capture the Theropod dinosaurs and make them his servants.

====Sauropods====
*Easy name: Long-necks
*Well known members: ''Apatosaurus'', ''Brachiosaurus'', ''Diplodocus''
*Awesome obscure members: ''Amargasaurus'', ''Shunosaurus'', ''Dreadnoughtus''

The other most well-known group. Titans with nothing on their minds other than eating. Notable for having the largest animals in the history of the planet (longer than whales, but not nearly as heavy). Could, though, rear up on their hind legs (if those legs were the longer of the two pairs), and come down HARD to crush the LIVING FUCK out of ANYTHING, '''ANYTHING''' underneath.

===Ornithischians===
The "bird-hipped" dinosaurs. Might be weird that birds aren't in this group, but the terms were coined in the 1800s, so what can ya do.

====Thyreophorans====
*Easy name: Armored Dudes
*Well known members: ''Stegosaurus'', ''Ankylosaurus'', ''Euoplocephalus''
*Awesome obscure members: ''Kentrosaurus'', ''Polacanthus'', ''Scutosaurus'', ''Dacentrurus''

Armor, man. These guys were walking tanks with rows of bony armor, or spikes or plates, with many species having weaponized tails which (among the Stegosauridae family) are known informally as Thagomizers after a Gary Larson Far Side Cartoon. Yes really. Also notable because some scientists believe that they had [http://i.imgur.com/4KsLhRI.jpg| colossal, sideways dongs.] Seriously, how the hell else could they bone? Can't do normal fucking with those spikes in the way...

====Ornithopods====
*Easy name: Duck Bills
*Well known members: ''Iguanodon'', ''Parasaurolophus'', ''Edmontosaurus''
*Awesome obscure members: ''Kulindadromeus'', ''Shangtungosaurus'', ''Tsintaosaurus''

Your standard "dino plant-eaters", though some theorize they could have actually been quite aggressive, which considering how many people are killed by plant eating hippos and elephants is quite probable.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBU6zfI1b0U| We also actually know what one type sounded like!]

====Marginocephalians====
*Easy name: Horned Faces
*Well known members: ''Triceratops'', ''Protoceratops'', ''Pachycephalosaurus''
*Awesome obscure members: ''Diabloceratops'', ''Einosaurus'', ''Nasutoceratops''

Probably the last major group to arise. All originally bipedal, but some grew too massive for that. Also had a weird convergent evolution with birds, they had straight-up beaks. Also made fuck-awesome battering rams or goring beasts in battle. Like, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY OR I WILL CRUSH YOU UNDER 9 TONS OF MOVING MUSCLE AND SPEAR YOU LIKE A FISH fuck-awesome.

==/tg/ Dinosaur Trivia==
* [[Gary Gygax]] used a set of cheap "Prehistoric Animals" toys that could commonly be found in supermarkets in the 1970's as monsters during the creation of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. The [[Owlbear]], [[Rust Monster]], and [[Bulette]] are all based off cheaply made Hong Kong plastic versions of dinosaurs.
* Some dinosaurs had feathers. The only ones who didn't were the oldest, such as Plateosaurus, and as a result didn't survive to see poofy dinos. Whether this is adorably awesome or ruins your childhood is subjective.
* The famous ''Velociraptor'' was the size of a turkey, and likely hunted similarly to wolves. Although some would put anything that looks similar under the name "Velociraptor", the actual species are simply called Raptors of which Velociraptor is only one member (other species include ''Pyroraptor'', ''Microraptor'', and ''Utahraptor'').
* Some scientists believe that a relative of the ''Velociraptor'' called the ''Troodon'' may have used tools (not too surprising, some animals use tools today; tools as in "some birds, bugs and primates use sticks and rocks to help them crack open or dig out their food"), and possibly had the intelligence of modern crows (for reference the American Crow is believed to be one somewhere in the top five most intelligent animals on Earth). A small handful of scientists believe that had it not gone extinct likely due to lack of food, it could have evolved to become a [[Lizardmen|human-like species.]]
* As described above, scientists consider birds to be dinosaurs. As a result their Clade, ''Coelurosauria'', are the dinosaurs that survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene Mass Extinction Event. Its a subgroup of Theropods, meaning those tiny bastards that wake you up at 6:00 am and the one who died to become your lunch sandwich are all cousins to the T-REX.
* Jurassic Park style resurrection (discover intact dinosaur DNA, inject into frogs, create hermaphrodite dinosaurs) may not be possible due to actual surviving DNA not being likely to still exist. Unlike mammoths and early humans who died in frozen temperatures and were naturally preserved like a big freezer and not long ago comparatively, dinosaurs went extinct in a hot climate with 66 million years to decay. Technically we don't find dinosaur bones, we find minerals which took the place of bones, remember that DM's if you ever find a necromancer in a natural history museum! However, scientists at Ivy League schools such as Yale and Harvard as well as research funded by the Chinese government have been progressing towards discovering existing ancient DNA in living birds then combining genes to create something that resembles a dinosaur (the process is similar to the creation of Glofish, created by using SCIENCE to hybridize jellyfish and Zebra Fish into an abomination that will probably destroy humanity).
*Dinosaurs lived on this planet for 177 million (1.7*10^8) years. 40k takes place in the 41st millennium. Even in the far, far future humanity has only existed for only about 2.25% as long as the dinosaurs had.
*A lot of the skills used in the modeling and painting aspects of the wargaming hobby are the same skills used in preparing fossils. These include filling gaps with putty (used to fill gaps/cracks in bone), cleaning mold lines or filing down other unwanted plastic/resin (similar to removing matrix from a bone), and painting (painting casts of bones). If you REALLY love dinosaurs, hone your hobbying skills and volunteer at a museum. /a vertebrate paleontologist

==See Also==

*[[Tarrasque]] - D&D dinosaur monster-to-end-all-monsters.
*[[Lizardmen]] (WHFB) - [[Awesome| Dinosaur people who ride dinosaurs]].
*[[Exodite]] - Primitive Eldar who rides dinosaurs to battle.
*[[Kroot]] - who has the Great Knarloc, basically kroot dinosaurs

[[Category:Monsters]][[Category:History]]