I think many of you know Warhammer 40,000. A world of a distant dark future in which everything is very, very bad. But was he always like this?? Maybe the world was kinder before, and the Space Marines wore rainbow armor? Now we’ll find out by plunging into the lore of the first edition Warhammer 40,000. But first a little history.
Games Workshop was founded in London in 1975 John Peake, Steve Jackson And Ian Livingston. At the beginning, the company was engaged in the production of traditional board games (backgammon, chess, Go, etc.) carving them by hand from wood. Over the next couple of years, they became the official distributor of many popular American board games, including Dungeons & Dragons.
By 1983, the company was ready to release its own board game. The first edition is published Warhammer Fantasy Battles, games in a fantasy setting inspired by the works of John Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft and Michael Moorcock.
It’s mid-80s. Fantasy Battles has gained success and is selling well, we need to develop further and do something new. At that time, the science fiction genre was on the rise – Star Wars, Dune, Terminator. AND Games Workshop decides to jump on the hype wave and release another board game, now in the sci-fi genre.
However, the authorities wanted the entire model range Fantasy Battles was compatible with the new game. The plan was something like this: you buy models for FB and add a small set of weapons and paraphernalia to them, with the help of which you turn an ordinary fantasy orc with a crossbow into a space orc with a bolter.
But the miniature designers had their own opinion on this matter, and they persuaded their bosses to release a full-fledged line of miniatures with a unique design. But the game was still based on Fantasy Battles. Therefore, the result was a scientific fantasy, where space elves, space gnomes, space orcs and ordinary people fight in the distant future.
Released in 1987 Rogue Trader — first edition Warhammer 40,000. We will plunge into it now.
First, some basic information. Everything happens within one galaxy, where the Imperium of Man is the largest star empire.
There is Warp space – the medium through which spaceships travel between stars at speeds exceeding the speed of light. In a sense, this is an alternative reality or parallel dimension in which the laws of time and space differ from the material world. Movement in warp space has a clear relationship to distance traveled in normal space, and this relationship can be manipulated to allow movement at superluminal speeds.
The Warp is an extremely volatile environment and can pose a danger to spaceships within it. Sometimes the normally calm movements of warp space escalate into raging storms of wild and destructive fury. Such storms can last only a few moments, or they can last for many years. At best, a warp storm can throw a ship off course or delay it; at worst, it can make warp travel impossible in some parts of the galaxy. Half of these systems go offline for less than a year, but many remain isolated for years or even centuries.
While most warp storms are temporary, there is one permanent storm known as the Eye of Terror. For many years, this raging storm stops all travel within the boundaries of its warp space, isolating many worlds within itself. Once every four to ten years, the Eye “blinks”, allowing ships of all races to visit lost worlds for just a few days.
Unlike the current Warhammer, here the “Eye of Terror” is a warp storm that does not in any way affect the real world. That is, if there was technology that allowed you to move at superluminal speeds in the real world, there would be no problems with traveling to lost worlds.
Psykers are creatures capable https://yoapuestocasino.co.uk/bonus/ of performing various “magic” (telepathy, vision of the future, pyrokinesis), drawing energy from the Warp.
Imperium of Man
It is immediately worth noting that in the original many of the names of ancient institutions and organizations are presented in Latinized English. It is a fairly old language, which itself is a development of twentieth-century languages, not necessarily Latin as such. It is known throughout the Imperium as "Tech", being a version of the language in which technical manuals and ancient works are written. This language developed during the Dark Age of Technology. It comes from the common language of the time, the assimilation of English, European and Pacific languages.
For more than a hundred centuries, the Emperor has sat motionless on the Golden Throne of Terra. By the will of the gods, he is the Master of Mankind and rules over a million worlds thanks to the power of his countless armies. He is a rotting half-corpse whose invisible torment is prolonged by the mysterious devices of the Dark Age of Technology. He is the decaying ruler of the Imperium, to whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, whose blood he drinks and eats. The Imperium itself stands on human blood and flesh
Let’s take a brief look at human history.
Early history is unknown, but most likely it is not very different from our world.
15th millennium – humanity begins to colonize nearby solar systems using conventional sublight spaceships. Progress is slow at first, and new colonies must survive as independent units, isolated from the mother world for dozens of generations.
20th millennium (Dark Age of Technology) – golden age of scientific achievement and expansion. Warp drive developed, allowing travel through the Warp. People appear with the navigator gene, which allows them to see the Warp and direct a spaceship. Creation of warp drives speeds up the colonization process, early independent colonies merge with Earth. The first alien races are encountered, the first wars with aliens.
Humanity traveled across the galaxy, founding new colonies and exploring new worlds. Many of these colonies failed to gain a foothold, others were lost, and some became independent civilizations with distinctive cultures. However, most of the colonies successfully explored new worlds and lived quietly for their own pleasure. In such an environment, the impetus for change was very low; everything the townspeople needed was at hand, their new world supplied them with food, and the store of knowledge brought from Earth allowed them to maintain a high-tech base without a technological society. This was partly a result of the system of standard template designs (SPC) that each colony used.
The heart of the SShK system was an advanced computer program designed to provide colonists with design details. Its main function was to allow colonists to build efficient shelters, generators and transport without any prior knowledge and using virtually any locally available materials. The user simply asked how to build a house or tractor, and the computer provided all the necessary drawings.
25th millennium (Era of Strife) – terrible wars are tearing human civilization apart. Human factions fight among themselves, as well as against the countless aliens who are now flocking to take part in the plunder of human space. Many worlds fall to the rule of warp creatures, while others revert to barbarism. Humans only survive on worlds where psykers are suppressed or controlled. At this time, the Earth is engulfed by terrible warp storms, isolating the human homeworld for several thousand years. Human cultures diversify and many mutations emerge, including the ancestors of species such as Homo Sapiens Gigantus, Rotundus and Minimus.
30th millennium – amidst the chaos of the Age of Strife, one faction emerges victorious and the Imperium of Man is founded. The leader of the Imperium is known as the Emperor. With the founding of the Astronomicon – a psychic navigation beacon controlled by the Emperor himself – interstellar travel becomes easier and faster. Suppression and control of psykers and creatures of the warp frees most of humanity from its hellish slavery.
40th millennium – more than ten thousand years ago, the great Emperor of Mankind ascended to the Golden Throne. He has reached the end of his natural life, now his existence is maintained only by artificial means and human sacrifices. The rise of the Emperor marked the end of a long era of human history, an era of human wars and the gradual decline of knowledge accumulated over millennia. Through the Dark Age and the Age of Strife, humanity has come to the present age – the age of the Imperium.
This is a time of superstition, when incomprehensible technologies were enslaved by the forces of mysticism and madness. For ordinary people of this time, peasants in the fields and warriors among the stars, scientific thought represents a disgusting perversion – a desecration of honor and religious virtue. Even for those few people who deal directly with technology, science and magic have become largely inseparable – a warp drive must be decorated with runes, a laser rifle requires the blessing of the gods of battle.
This is a universe in which gods, mysticism and magic are real. For this is a time of great change in humanity itself. A time when more and more people develop abilities far beyond what their ancestors had. People who develop these abilities are known as psychics or psykers, and by many less flattering names. Psykers are men and women with the ability to transcend ordinary cosmic laws, connecting themselves with great universal forces that lie far beyond the understanding of their kindred. Their gifts defy explanation; telepathy, telekinesis, illusion and countless others. Many ordinary people attribute these powers to divine origin. Some psykers claim that their abilities allow them to harness powers controlled by entities that exist outside the real universe – beyond ordinary time and space. Others are looking for a rational explanation for these phenomena – but this is not the age of rationalism, they are few and their voices are weak.
Emperor
The Master of Mankind has ruled the Imperium longer than any living man can remember. Countless millennia ago, he was born to mortal parents, growing up with little awareness of the fate that awaited him. In his youth, he began to exhibit strange powers, which intensified and multiplied as he grew older. Not the least of these abilities was longevity – virtual immortality, which gave him time to fully develop his abilities.
For centuries he lived secretly among humanity while empires rose and fell. As his powers developed, he became aware of dangers beyond his own world, of psychically minded beings that roamed the voids between space, hungry and clinging to the life material of living beings. For countless centuries he hid, growing his strength and waiting. Finally, more than ten thousand years ago, he began his struggle, for he knew that humanity was on the verge of a revolution – a genetic revolution that would create a new psychically active race.
The race in which he was the first and most powerful. He realized that without his guidance, the nascent race of psychics would fall prey to the dangers he had already faced. The dangers of creatures that feed on psychic energy or use this energy for their own terrible purposes. And so, the Emperor emerged from the shadows, creating the Age of the Imperium more than ten thousand years ago in a series of wars that only their winner now remembers. His reign was long and harsh, for much was at stake – the life of humanity itself.
Now his body can no longer support life, and his mutilated body remains intact only because he is supported by the very spirit of the Emperor and strange mechanisms – ancient artifacts created by the Emperor.
He is seemingly immortal, but it is said that the stress of his constant vigilance took a heavy toll on him.
The Master of Mankind knows that to protect his race he must survive, must live forever if necessary, or until psychically humans develop sufficient strength to withstand the dangers they face. If thousands of people endure pain and death for his sake, then how great must be the agony of a being whose body is almost destroyed, whose mind is imprisoned in a rotting shell, and whose every thought is enslaved to the service of his race.
The Emperor has absolute power. However, the Imperium is so vast, and the task of controlling the destiny of humanity so important, that the management of the day-to-day affairs of the Imperium has been entrusted to the shoulders of two colossal organizations – the Adeptus Terra and the Inquisition.
Adeptus Terra
In the vast realm of the Imperium, the Adeptus Terra are all-powerful. Known among humanity as the "clergy", its members rule humanity in the name of the Emperor. The organization includes many departments, some of which are so secret that their existence is known only to the Emperor himself. Let’s look at the main ones briefly.
Adeptus Custodes – The Emperor’s inner guard, whose duties are to serve and protect the Master of Mankind. Continuous rotation ensures that several hundred of these chosen warriors are always active in the palace, as well as a small elite of guards who never leave the Emperor’s side. Their uniform is traditional, but effective (as the authors say): leather breeches and boots, a long black cloak on a bare torso, a helmet and a spear.
Adeptus Mechanicus – servants of technology, they are often called tech-priests. Their organization is quite ascetic, and their devotion to technical research can be likened to religious zeal. The main colleges of the Adeptus Mechanicus are located on Earth. Their main duty is to maintain and operate the machines that give life to the Emperor, a task that becomes increasingly difficult as the millennia pass.