A friend of mine is planning on running a Wrath & Glory campaign, but they don't really know that much about the 40K universe, so they've asked me to clear up a few things, or at least my thoughts on them. So here are 4 myths and why they're busted.
- The Imperium really loves Exterminatus!
Errr, no. The destruction of a planet is a desperate, any-chance-of-winning-is-lost kind of action, one the Imperium only considers when they have no other choice. There are two reasons for this - 1) Its a waste of resources. That planet could have kept producing resources/materiel and now it's a debris field. So now its useless 2) There's actually a knock-on effect that can have long term repercussions.*
The Imperium considers this to be so wasteful, that there's a branch of the Inquisition solely dedicated to investigating uses of Exterminatus to see if it was justified. To put this way, in 80% of cases, the instigator is executed.
- Every Imperial World is a hellhole.
No. When you see a planet in ruins or the subject of some conflict, remember one thing - you're viewing it from the perspective of a battle game. Of course it's going to look like crap when tanks have been rolling around the cities for years. It's a very small fraction of what's out there. There are hundreds of thousands of worlds in the Imperium, not all of them can be the theatre of a war. There are agricultural worlds, paradise worlds, planets similar to Earth through various periods and they are all relatively peaceful. Granted few worlds are without their problems, a Hive World is still going to be a polluted planet with a half-dozen cities, each with a population in the billions, but for the most part - unemployment is nearly non-existent in the Imperium, you'll get feed and the risk of a portal to hell opening in the middle of the street is actually kind of low. Chances are, you will never see an alien and you'll actually live a somewhat comfortable life. You know, unless some dickhead decides they want power.
- The Imperium is just like the Galactic Empire.
Nope. The sheer size of the Imperium necessitates a feudal model, just because the time it takes to communicate across the galaxy is measured in months or years. A planet will offer a tithe to the Imperium, expected to obey the Imperial Cult and if it does come under attack, it's expected to defend itself for months, simply because of how long it will take reinforcements to arrive. Of course, while this works for many planets, there are some leaders for whom the isolation allows them to build their own power base. Also, despite the xenophobia in the Imperium, Humanity doesn't actually kill every alien that it comes across and is more likely to leave a race alone provided that the aliens don't poke Humanity with a stick. Its like like with a spider - if the spider doesn't do you any harm, leave it be, you might have use for it later on. In truth, the Imperium of Man is more like the Federation of Planets than the Galactic Empire...if your mind blown yet?
- The Imperium of Man is evil.
It's actually not. It's just in a desperate position in a desperate situation. It's survival. If the Imperium has to kill a billion people to save trillions, that's regrettable, but ultimately, necessary. Considering some of the threats at the gate, yes, the Imperium is brutal, but it's by no means the worst possibility. Take these three quotes for example;
"We are forced to commit exterminatus on a billion souls because we have no choice and the alternative outcome would be much worse. I pray that these innocent souls would meet peace with the Emperor." - 40k
"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." - 1984
"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." - Xeelee Sequence
Despite what might be said about the 40k setting and how dark it is, it does continually show something rarely seen in dystopian settings - hope. In a setting showing humanity at its worst, there are so many characters who exemplify the very best qualities of Mankind - kindness, courage, determination, self-sacrifice.
Addendum
*
Let's say we have three inhabited planets in a system: Alpha - agricultural world, population 15 million. Beta - Hive world/mining world, population 10 billion. Gamma - Forge World/Factory planet, population 2 billion. Alpha provides the food, Beta supplies workers and minerals, as well as soldiers and Gamma provides machinery and maintains the ships travelling between the three planets.
Let's say that Exterminatus is pronounced on Alpha. Food supplies dry up for Beta and Gamma, starvation sets in and food riots begin. Planetary governors might be overthrown or secede from the Imperium because in their desperation they turn to darker powers.
Or let's say Beta is the one that gets destroyed. Alpha can't defend itself and the factories on Gamma stop working. Gamma starves and people are going to get desperate.
Now, what happens if Gamma gets blamm'd instead? The ships in the system eventually break down, Beta can only offer a bare minimum defence and again, it starves.
Essentially the Imperium a galaxy-wide game of Kerplunk and throwing up planet destroying weapons at every problem is going to cause the whole system to collapse. Hence why it's a desperate decision.
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Topic: Thoughts about the Warhammer 40,000 universe (Read 19509 times)