Editing The Imperium of Man (section)

===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, repetitive, and lacking in freedom- though the same can be said about its real world equivalent) 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 depends very much on the planet you come from and whether someone else got shipped there first, 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 if not outright atrocious, 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 (or at least Guilliman) 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 it's 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, if only out of necessity. 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 may once have been 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 (within the sector at least) other humans on a million worlds (that said, this depends on the planet you were born on a lot: an underhiver will have a bad life, a deathworlder is lucky to make it to like 15, and a noble is likely to have everything they might desire presented to them on a silver platter). This is implied to be partially intentional as a way to get the very best of humanity in positions of power, or at minimum a concession to the fact that humanity isn't in a position to be picky.  By and large, it works.  Incompetence appears to be very rare in the Imperium given the sheer amount of cracks left in human civilization not being able to bring it down (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: an average Administratum adept messing something up has a decent chance of nothing happening as his department is working on century old minor archives, but if a Departmento Munitorum official accidentally issues two mass mobilization orders or receives miscommunication and sends a wiped out regiment as reinforcements, that's where the problems start (not helped by Astropathic communication being what it is as said official might not even be aware that the unit ordered to another system is dead).