Setting:Brighthammer 40,000/1st edition
BrightHammer 40k is a mirror universe of Warhammer 40k. In this setting, the incredibly GRIMDARKness of regular 40k is replaced by NOBLEBRIGHTness and instead of war, there is only HIGH ADVENTURE!
Background
In the Noble Brightness of the 40th millenium, there is only HIGH ADVENTURE!
10,000 years ago when the universe finally began to take a turn for the better after the Eldar willingly ascended to create the Order god of Love Slaaneesh, the Emperor appeared to ensure the noble rule of Mankind. In an act of supreme sacrifice, his most favored son Horus and several of his primarchs, noble princes of mankind, sacrificed their mortal form to become princes of Order in the warp.
Since then the Emperor has ruled for 10,000 years from the golden throne on Terra, bringing peace, enlightenment, and joy to all mankind. There is clearly no better time to be alive.
Now the last vestiges of the Eldar go forth to ensure the joy and prosperity of other races before the last of them finally ascend, the Bright Eldar at the forefront of this. They are opposed by the dark forces of Eldrad, and the Eldar who were too impure to ascend to a higher plane. Eldrad's convoluted schemes are a constant source of pain and discontent for the people of the Imperium.
Across the galaxy, the Noble Savages known as the Orks are being brutally oppressed through misunderstanding and miscommunication.
In the distant lands of the Eastern Galaxy, a dark and chaotic empire called the Tau, using their battlecry, "For the Lesser Evil!" have formed a brutal fascist empire that uses mind control, genocide, and cannibalistic troops as a normal thing. The Emperor believes they can be redeemed.
Deep beneath the surface of many worlds, the immortal Necrontyr awaken to teach the secrets of the technologies of the distant past to modern man. They teach that prosperity is possible even without the Lords of Order, and where they go, life springs up in their stead.
The Tyranids, the most visible member race of which are the Zoats, came to visit the Squat homeworlds, a civilization of noble miners and proud warriors. Though negotiations took many years, the Squats eventually accepted the offer of the Tyranids and joined the hivemind, and left the galaxy.
In the warp, the lords of order are the god of hope and compassion, Nurgle, who loves even the smallest of creatures, Tzeentch, god of knowledge and the magic of wonder, and Khorne, the noble warrior king, newest form of the savage former god of the eldar, Khaine. He is a warrior without bloodlust, sitting upon his throne of helms. Finally, the newest and for now most powerful of the gods, Slaaneesh, god of love and joy.
Across the imperium not all is well, however. It is a vast empire, and planets fall out of the sight of the Emperor. Corrupt politicians seek to subvert the Democratic order and ways of the imperium. Dark tyrants seek to rise up and rebel, oppressing their people brutally. Though the Lords and Princes of Order work with the Emperor to bring civilization to all mankind, the universe remains a strange and beautiful place, filled with HIGH ADVENTURE!
The Imperium
The Imperium of Brighthammer is what the Imperium of 40k could have been if the emperor had won his war against chaos. In this setting that war never happened, and the warp is calmer and more friendly. It is in a golden age, and many of the primarchs remain to assist in his rule. As one might expect of any empire it's size, there are still many problems. Militarily it is held together by the space marine legions and the Imperial Guard. However, there are other problems of a different type and scale, such as corrupt imperial governors, seditious rebels, and rogue psykers. Often these are solved by the secret agents of the emperor, the Inquisition. Other times, these problems are solved by professional adventurers, the Brighthammer equivalent of rogue traders. Across the Imperium many worlds remain in a feudal state or at varying levels of technology, as unfortunate remnants of the war against the Iron Men at the end of the Dark Age of Technology. The Imperium seeks to bring these worlds into the fold, but many are ruled by tyrants or for many reasons the Imperium will not invade directly. Therefore small groups of agents may go to these worlds and bring them into the fold.
Space Marines
Space Marines are the noble knights of the Imperium, and as such serve as examples of order to the Imperium at large. Far apart from merely being a powerful military faction, they are also instrumental in keeping the Imperium together and functioning.
Imperial Guard
The Imperial Guard are normal men and women serving in the galactic military of the Imperium. They are expertly trained and the absolute best soldiers of any world they are taken from. They are largely similar to the Imperial Guard of regular Warhammer 40k, but are better trained and equipped; closer to stormtroopers than regular guardsmen. Commissars are carefully trained in the arts of war and serve to keep up morale and advise officers in its arts. Because war is relatively rare in Brighhammer 40k, they serve to keep the Guard in good working order. They are always the first in the charge, and the last in retreat. In times where their units fail, Commissars have been known to take their own lives rather than face the shame of defeat, knowing it was they who supposed to keep the unit battle ready.
Inquisition
When dark forces rise, the Inquisition is there to cut them out, quietly and stealthily. They are the secret agents of the Emperor, acting on his authority when all peaceful measures fail. When mad psykers arise, they are there to take them out. When corrupt governors starve their people, the Inquisition is ready to remove them. Notably, they are not as extreme as their Warhammer 40k counterparts and are mostly focused upon more James Bond like secret agent action.
The Inquisition makes use of several different specially trained operatives, apart from general Inquisitors. These individuals are usually trained at specialized combat schools from the elite of the elite.
Callidus School is still dedicated to infiltration tactics, scouting, information gathering.
Eversor School is for assault, designed to take on even the strongest foes in single combat, and receive a number of pysical, mental, and cybernetic enhancements.
Vindicare School is dedicated to long-range support, master of weapons, especially sniper-based ones. The noble fallen knight LIVII belonged to this organization.
Culexus School trains specialized individuals who are capable of uplifting moral to immense levels and increase the performance and natural healing abilities of their companions, despite lacking psyker capabilities. Aka, the reverse of the Pariah trait. These individuals are incredibly rare, but make highly effective team leaders.
All are recruited from existing special forces and receive the Inquisitions best training in general operations before proceeding on to their permanent combat school, in which they receive training in their specialized area.
After the training at their respective schools, they go to a third phase of training where all of them will attend the same school for team building and developing alongside each other to use each others strengths to eliminate all the weaknesses they had as individuals. After graduation, they are known as Imperial Special Forces, second only to the Astartes in terms of awesomeness.
Sisters of Battle
Still raging pedophiles. They seek Nfol; the bringer of darkness - spawn of the fallen noble warrior LIVII, former Vindicare Knight, and the dark Wytch Taldeer, among the vilest of Eldrads twisted daughters. Their planned redemption ceremonies for the young half-eldar girl Nfol require a suspicious amount of Purification oil and phallic objects.
Adeptus Telepathica
Under the command of the Grey Knights, the Adeptus Telepathica is an elite corps of the strongest and most trustworthy psykers in the imperium. Each is first trained by the inquisition, recruited upon the Inquisitions White Ships and learning to fully harness their abilities, channeling the forces of Order for the good of mankind. Each makes a trip to Terra, where they are partially infused with the power of the Emperor, a blessing which strikes many blind. However, despite this loss, the increase in power more than makes up for it. Many are sent to serve in the Imperial Guard or as Navagators on ships that they might traverse the warp. Only the most elite, strongest in power and will are allowed to join the Adeptus Telepathica. They brave the mysteries of the warp and gain great power, using it for the good of mankind. Some psykers still go rogue, desiring to bring about ruin and destruction. It is often the Adeptus Telepathica that is tasked with their removal.
Xenos
Most of the races of BrightHammer are identical to their normal Warhammer40k counterparts, except that wherever possible they are generally bright, noble, and generally nicer. This does not mean they are pushovers, however; the technological and warfaring capabilities of these races are equal to regular 40k, if less used.
Eldar
The Eldar are divided into two groups. The Eldar were originally an incredibly advanced society that succeeded in ascending and creating a warp god; the god of love, Slaaneesh. Those that wished to remain behind to instruct other races on how to grow, change, and ascend to godhood. These are the Bright Eldar. A second faction consists of those who were too impure to rise to godhood. These chaotic Eldar are lead by Eldrad, and his schemes and machinations are a constant source of strife for everyone.
Orks
Noble savages, fond of a good game of Chess, their harsh language has somewhat given to the galaxy a wrong image of them. Occasional clashes happen between their forces and the Imperium, but they merely want to be left in peace on the worlds they're protecting, and wouldn't dream of expanding themselves unnecessarily. Their anachronistic, warlike ways mislead others, however, and many view them as barbaric savages despite their level of technology and treat them accordingly. They are lead by Orks known as the "Brainboyz". Much of their technology is inherent, and uses a built-in connection with Order to function, meaning their crude appearing vehicles and ships are still quite effective.
Gameplay
This is a setting best adapted for Dark Heresy games and for Kill-Team scenarios in regular tabletop 40k, due to its emphasis on adventure and heroics.
Persons of note
Fum'aan Shu'u
A rogue Tau mad scientist, Fum'aan Shu'u is a menace to everyone in the galaxy, including his own race. With his numerous and loyal henchmen, scattered all across Tau and Imperium Space, he works on diabolical plans to rule the universe.
Some say he could even have opened, in some hidden facility, an artificial warp gate to another dimension, where the Order Gods are evil parodies of themselves... And that he tries to create a bizarre army of corrupted human space marines and demons, all of them the results of "chaos" twisted powers.
Artwork
