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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    That's one of the things that takes a while to grasp about the Imperium - the Emperor is not tangible to the general populous.
    I'd argue that case - it's a basic fact that by His Will, the Astronomicon is maintained, which is critical for all inter-system travel. Without the beacon, the Imperium would collapse thus its existence touches everybody to some degree.

    Rather than comparing the Emperor to Jesus, I'd compare him to the sun. You know the sun is there but it's so prevalent you stop admiring it for what it is (a giant ball of burning gas which gives life to the world) and start taking it for granted (yes, even in the UK ).
    However if the sun stopped shining or burnt differently, Earth would quickly become a lifeless rock hanging in space.

    I do concede the rise of the cult of the Emperor and the deviations to it, but even prior to the Emperor's cult, was there any real questioning of his divinity by the normal populace, or even by the Astartes?

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    I think it's 4 months training, because the Regiment is founded, marched onto a Transport Ship and all of their training is done en route to their first Warzone. There's nothing to suggest that this is atypical of newly founded Regiments - they get as much training as they can before they pretty much have to learn 'on the job'.
    I haven't read 15 Hours yet, so will concede the point but I still think live fire exercises in a space ship are highly stupid, no matter how armoured the walls are (even the Space Marines don't do it).

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    The Planetary Governer, by the same token, also answers to no one as he has absolute control over his planet so long as he continues to pay his Imperial Tithe and remain faithful to the Imperial Cult.
    There's a bit of political jiggery-pokery going on in one of the Cain books (For the Emperor, I think), which both reinforces and disproves this point.
    The planetary governor is having issues with the Tau and orders the Imperial taskforce to attack the Tau, but the IG general countermands him and instead orders the IG to take the governor into custody.

    The PDF starts trying to shoot both sides, while the IG and Tau shoot back and try hard not to shoot each other, although not always successfully.
    Seems to me that the governor tends only to have control at the barrel of a gun, barring a full-scale invasion.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    Generally speaking, a Governer can refuse the requests of a Space Marine force, but he would have to be VERY stupid to do so lest he attract the wrath of the Inquisition ("So tell us again why you though it okay to let Orks swarm across your planet and not let them be purged?") and quite frankly the Marines could ignore him without penalty, provided they were acting on a military campaign and not - for example - helping themselves to fuel stores or 'kidnapping' new recruits.
    True, the Blood Ravens were trying to secure access to the Angel Forge manufacturing facilities, so they would be subject to the governor's whims.
    That said, would there be scope for the marines to launch a coup if the situation was serious enough, assuming that the governor wasn't declared a heretic or otherwise disloyal?

    Which reminds me, who has right to authorise Exterminatus? I'm assuming the Inquisition and campaign warmasters, and that anybody else has to request it, but I'm not sure whether that's because only the former two groups have the clearance level, or they're the only ones with the means to do so.

    In Deathwing, the Dark Angels captain's ship had the means to perform Exterminatus and the situation more than gave him the right to do so.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    Same goes for Space Marines vs. Imperial Guard. On paper, IG Generals outranks Space Marines Captain, but neither side are allowed to give each other direct orders. It's an incredibly foolish or brazen General/Captain who does not cooperate with a fellow Imperial Force in terms of tactics, but they do exist and those that do are generally regarded with suspicion.
    The Marines Malevolent spring to mind, but are there any IG generals that would directly oppose a marine captain?
    For that matter, I'm assuming that the Adeptus Mechanicus does pretty much whatever they like, since via the Titan Legions, they have the biggest guns.

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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Brother Oni View Post
    I'd argue that case - it's a basic fact that by His Will, the Astronomicon is maintained, which is critical for all inter-system travel. Without the beacon, the Imperium would collapse thus its existence touches everybody to some degree.
    I'm certainly not disagreeing with you (the Sun analogy is actually a much better one than I was using ) but I have always thought of it as a less enlightened interpretation.

    By which I mean, what is the Sun doing, right now? How does it work? Is it doing it by choice? Can anyone actually approach the Sun and converse with it? Of course not - THAT is how I see the Imperium's relationship with the Emperor. It's a force of nature that very, very few people can begin to describe - to the populace at large, it's a magnificent and very mysterious thing always hanging over their heads.

    In fairness, there's not enough fluff available to say for certain what the average opinion is, but given that even the oldest and most powerful Tech Priests barely know the outlines of how the Golden Throne works, what the Astronomicon actually is and how it is created might as well be fairy tales.

    I do concede the rise of the cult of the Emperor and the deviations to it, but even prior to the Emperor's cult, was there any real questioning of his divinity by the normal populace, or even by the Astartes?
    During the Great Crusade, the Emperor himself forbade the Imperium from worshipping him as a God. He insisted on an Age of reason and logic, and that he should be regarded as the peak of human evolution rather than something supernatural.

    A thousand years after his 'death' - when the Primarchs were all but gone and ordinary humans were dozens of generations away from a first-hand account - cults began springing up in His honour regardless of his edict, and it took until M32 for all of these different viewpoints to be amalgamated or destroyed into a single Imperial Cult, so.... There probably was a time when the Emperor's insistence was adhered to, but it was quickly forgotten as time passed.

    I haven't read 15 Hours yet, so will concede the point but I still think live fire exercises in a space ship are highly stupid, no matter how armoured the walls are.
    Yeah, that's actually part of the 'joke' that makes 15 Hours the most grimdark book ever written; The troops in question were, among other things, forced to use imaginary buildings marked out by painted outlines on the floor in order to practice a House-to-House search procedure, and though having been drilled by a Veteran as to how to use their guns they would not have had chance to use them until they actually touched down in a warzone!

    Having said that, Imperial ships are tens of kilometres long and several millenium old at the very least. I doubt that a mere lasgun could do them any harm, even from the inside of an empty cargo hold.

    That said, would there be scope for the marines to launch a coup if the situation was serious enough, assuming that the governor wasn't declared a heretic or otherwise disloyal?
    Not too sure about this one.... I fairly certain that a Space Marine Commander could have a Planetary Governer executed, during a military campaign and if he proved enough of a hinderance, but he would almost certainly be investigated by the Inquisition in order to justify himself. Chapter Masters could, without question, do it and it would be extremely difficult to hold them to account.
    That said, they would not be allowed to do it for political reasons - the Marines would not be allowed to install themselves as the new Planetary Governors, for example, as going down they route ends with the Tyrant of Badad.

    Which reminds me, who has right to authorise Exterminatus? I'm assuming the Inquisition and campaign warmasters, and that anybody else has to request it, but I'm not sure whether that's because only the former two groups have the clearance level, or they're the only ones with the means to do so.
    • Inquisitors can do it, and are then called to justify their actions before a council of their peers.
    • Space Marine Commanders - Captains and above, usually - can do so if the situation warrants it and they have their own means to do so. They're not allowed to order an Imperial Navy ship to do it for them, though again they can make a polite request.
    • Imperial Guard Generals can request an Exterminatus, but I believe that it has to be authorised by a Lord General Militant (such as Zyvan, as you mentioned the Cain novels )
    • By the same token, an Imperial Warmaster is above reproach in this regard.
    • I'm fairly sure that Imperial Navy Admirals cannot enact an Exterminatus of their own accord, despite having the firepower to do so. They have absolutely no juresduction over ground compaigns.
    • And finally, I believe that in extreme circumstances a Planetary Governor (or High Magus, on Forgeworlds) can order an Exterminatus of their own planet if it's completely overrun and no one is coming to their aid. It would take someone quite ballsy to do such a thing, but then what sort of life would they have if they fled and left their planet in the hands of an enemy?


    The Marines Malevolent spring to mind, but are there any IG generals that would directly oppose a marine captain?
    I can think of a couple by name -Generals Sturnn, Alexander Lukas and Vance Stubbs, all made famous by the add-on campaigns for Dawn of War.
    All of them canonically defied a Blood Raven Captain-Commander (among others) and refused to leave their assignment, which ended in outright warfare between Guardsman and Marines in each of their respective campaigns.

    Although I doubt that any Commissar-General would have no doubt in doing it, if they were convinced of a better course of action.

    For that matter, I'm assuming that the Adeptus Mechanicus does pretty much whatever they like, since via the Titan Legions, they have the biggest guns.
    Yes. Also because they have a representative among the High Lords of Terra, which makes them their own 'faction' just like Space Marines, the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy being unable to directly order each other about.
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  3. - Top - End - #333
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Has anyone picked up the 25-for-25 ebook? I'm debating it, but the info does not tell much about the stories, and I'd like to know more before I buy it. How much do the stories cover? SM? Chaos? Horus Heresy era? Any xenos? Inquisition?
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    I haven't picked it up, but I recognise some of the titles - they're reprints from old issues of White Dwarf and Inferno! magazines, so you could probably Google them individually to find out what they're about.

    The ones that I recognise are generally very good - The Wrath of Khârn is one that especially stands out as being memorable, as it details a fight between two Chaos factions (you don't need to take a wild running guess to figure who wins that one, but it's a good yarn none-the-less )

    Many of the ones I don't recognise are newly released for this collection, so I can't comment on their quality. I'd imagine that they're comparative to the others
    Last edited by Wraith; 2012-02-25 at 04:23 PM.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    Although I doubt that any Commissar-General would have no doubt in doing it, if they were convinced of a better course of action.
    Wait, wait, wait.
    Where do Lord Commisairs fit in?

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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Brother Oni View Post
    I'd argue that case - it's a basic fact that by His Will, the Astronomicon is maintained, which is critical for all inter-system travel. Without the beacon, the Imperium would collapse thus its existence touches everybody to some degree.
    You're forgetting the fact that the vast majority of the Imperium never leave their homeworld, and most of those never even leave their hab-spire. The Emperor is an entirely intangible entity to most people.

    Warp Navigation and the Astronomicon don't really get talked about all that much if you never even come close to a starship.

    Rather than comparing the Emperor to Jesus, I'd compare him to the sun.
    Which is entirely accurate. The most common derivation to the Imperial Cult is the Solar Cult and the Emperor-as-the-Sun.

    For that matter, I'm assuming that the Adeptus Mechanicus does pretty much whatever they like, since via the Titan Legions, they have the biggest guns.
    Sort of. As Wraith said, since they have a High Lord representative, they can't be ordered about, as such. But, similarly, they can't order anybody else about either.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Cheesegear View Post
    You're forgetting the fact that the vast majority of the Imperium never leave their homeworld, and most of those never even leave their hab-spire. The Emperor is an entirely intangible entity to most people.

    Warp Navigation and the Astronomicon don't really get talked about all that much if you never even come close to a starship.
    That's a good point. It's easy to forget that all the fluff is about the 1% or so of the Imperium involved in actually fighting (Actually, does anyone have a figure on the percentage of the Imperium the Guard make up?)
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Opperhapsen View Post
    Wait, wait, wait.
    Where do Lord Commisairs fit in?
    Maybe it's just an honouriffic? Maybe is a ceremonial title? Maybe it's just a colloquialism? Honestly, I don't know for sure.

    Going by the description given on Lexicanum and from what little I have seen, a Lord Commissar is the same thing as a Commissar-General in that their primary role is to control and organise the Commissariat.
    The only thing I can say for sure is that the Commissariat does not have a High Lord representative, so it's definitely a role subordinate to that.
    Last edited by Wraith; 2012-02-25 at 06:54 PM.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    By which I mean, what is the Sun doing, right now? How does it work? Is it doing it by choice? Can anyone actually approach the Sun and converse with it? Of course not - THAT is how I see the Imperium's relationship with the Emperor. It's a force of nature that very, very few people can begin to describe - to the populace at large, it's a magnificent and very mysterious thing always hanging over their heads.

    In fairness, there's not enough fluff available to say for certain what the average opinion is, but given that even the oldest and most powerful Tech Priests barely know the outlines of how the Golden Throne works, what the Astronomicon actually is and how it is created might as well be fairy tales.
    As others said, it's common policy to let people know as little as possible about ANYTHING, let alone space travel or, Emperor forbid, the Warp. Because if they know that the Emperor must focus the Astronomican (and worse, that it's getting weaker) they know that there is the Warp, and that the Warp is everywhere, and that it's hell, and that it's just waiting to break loose, etc.

    From what I've read, most worship of the Emperor focusses around some vague debt that every Imperial citizen own the Emperor, because he gave everything for the Imperium. Cults where the Emperor is more concrete, like a sun cult, might also say that the Emperor gives life to this specific planet.

    That being said, the cult of the Emperor is incredibly diverse, and the Adpetus Ministorum travels the void and catalogues all manners of faiths. Mostly, they are pretty lenient (for 40K standards), so there is a wide array of cults, some scraping heresy, and there may come times when, due to a change in leadership, a cult that was perfectly normal is now considered an abomination.

    As for Space Marines, I figured they operated mostly on a "what are you going to do about it, punk?" policy. They know how powerful they are, they know how little everyone likes to anger them, and they therefore know how much they can get away with. It is only out of politeness that some chapters act differently. Just like the Inquisiton, and, come tot hink of it, most people with very much power.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    Going by the description given on Lexicanum and from what little I have seen, a Lord Commissar is the same thing as a Commissar-General in that their primary role is to control and organise the Commissariat.
    The only thing I can say for sure is that the Commissariat does not have a High Lord representative, so it's definitely a role subordinate to that.
    I think the difference is, that a Lord Commissar is a more senior Commissar in charge of recruitment and promotion.

    A Commissar-General is a Commissar who also has an IG command role - compare Gaunt to Cain.
    Cain repeatedly makes note of the fact that he is outside the command chain (hence his more frank and personal relationship with Zyvan), thus he can't technically give orders to IG soldiers (he gets away with it due to his good relationship with the Valhallans and his evident combat experience).
    Gaunt has lost part of his impartiality in taking the command role in the Tanith, but it also makes his orders ironcast, since he's both a senior officer and the guy in charge of regimental discipline (effectively making him judge, jury and executioner of the Tanith).

    I'm not so sure on how a Commissar would interact with Astartes though - neither of them have representation among the Lord of Terra so they're both operating with the same officiality.

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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Well, we've seen how Cain reacts to being attatched to Astartes; he runs and hides from the combat 'til either the SM's have wiped out the threat or there's none left between him and the enemy.

    Honestly I'd expect any commissar to do the same. Trying to execute a space marine for dereliction of duty is very, very close to Heresey. The Emperor himself said "They shall know no fear"

    So basically you're just a guy with a fancy sash and a lasgun among power armored supermen.

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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Squark View Post
    That's a good point. It's easy to forget that all the fluff is about the 1% or so of the Imperium involved in actually fighting
    The fluff does talk about the other 99%. Those not fighting are simply operating the factories, farms and all the other logistics to keep the imperium's war machine going nonstop. Eternal war isn't cheap.

    Oh, and all the war-related bureaucracy of course. That employs billions on terra alone.

    Quote Originally Posted by Golemsvoice View Post
    That being said, the cult of the Emperor is incredibly diverse, and the Adpetus Ministorum travels the void and catalogues all manners of faiths. Mostly, they are pretty lenient (for 40K standards), so there is a wide array of cults, some scraping heresy, and there may come times when, due to a change in leadership, a cult that was perfectly normal is now considered an abomination.
    On the contrary, if nothing else, what keeps the IoM remotely united is the fact they make sure everybody is taught the same thing and stomp anyone trying to say other things.

    From Black Crusade:
    "The Imperium has been far more successful in creating a common cultural and philosophical centre by dominating science, education and the arts on worlds from one side of the galaxy to the other."

    Plus countless billions that pilgrimage to terra, so they know the emperor is there.
    Last edited by maglag; 2012-02-26 at 10:50 AM.

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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Didn't Dark Heresy talk about how diverse the Imperial cult is? And isn't that how the Temple Tendency was born? I'm sadly away from my books, so I can't check.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Acanous View Post
    Honestly I'd expect any commissar to do the same. Trying to execute a space marine for dereliction of duty is very, very close to Heresey. The Emperor himself said "They shall know no fear"
    I think it might be more accurate to say that they wouldn't do it because Commissars are attached to the IG command structure, and thus have no authority over any other organisation. Even the Imperial Navy has it's own Commissars posted aboard ships, and Marines have Chaplains who pretty much fulfill the same role.

    I suppose there are unlikely situations where there is no one else around to hold the Marine to account, a Commissar might make it his business depending on how brave they were.... But if a Marine is doing something that warrents an execution, chances are that he's already a Renegade (and thus will soon have his entire Chapter on his heels looking for blood...) or is doing something already investigated by the Inquisition and cleared (certain blood rites performed by guys like the Blood Angels, for example, or a Space Wolf Wulfen 'mutant').

    The only alternative would be for dramatic reasons, like the Marine protagonist of a novel who knows something that no one else does, and acts on it for the Greater Good and is pursued by a Commissar. He'll eventually be vindicated for saving lives, etc, but in the mean time the Commissar is acting in the right.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Space Marines answer to no one other than the High Lords of Terra and (usually) the Inquisition. They do not need permission of a Planetary Governer to do anything at all, least of all make planetfall and fight xenos.
    Technically, nobody in the Imperium has any true authority over the chapters. The Astartes answered directly to the Primarchs, who answered directly to the Emperor. Since the Emperor is on the Throne and the Primarchs are all dead, missing or Daemon Princes, that pretty much leaves them free to do their own thing. However, for practical reasons they'll typically work with other Imperial forces. Mostly generals and governors just make requests of them and hope they're feeling amenable, very few people have the balls to try to order them to do anything at all.

    That's one of the things that takes a while to grasp about the Imperium - the Emperor is not tangible to the general populous.
    Aside from the Astronomicon, there are a few ways that the Emperor intervenes more directly. Supposedly the Imperial Tarot is a form of communication with the Emperor, since it allows the user to divine his will, but it's unclear how true that is. Also, Living Saints do in fact appear to be empowered directly by the Emperor.

    Also, it may be possible to talk to the Emperor directly in the throne room in the Imperial Palace, since I've seen in some sources that the Emperor can freely manipulate reality in there. But since no one except the Adeptus Custodes ever go in there, nobody knows.

    That being said, the cult of the Emperor is incredibly diverse, and the Adpetus Ministorum travels the void and catalogues all manners of faiths. Mostly, they are pretty lenient (for 40K standards), so there is a wide array of cults, some scraping heresy, and there may come times when, due to a change in leadership, a cult that was perfectly normal is now considered an abomination.
    Yes, the Imperial cult has evolved in different ways on different worlds. Don't forget that a lot of worlds were cut off during the Heresy and contact with them was only reestablished centuries or even millenia later. Some worlds have even added more gods. To take an example from the Ghosts, "Feth" is one of their tree gods. To take another, the natives of Fenris worship Leman Russ. Generally, as long as the Emperor remains their primary deity and the core tenets of the Imperial Creed remain intact, the Ecclesiarchy lets them do their own thing.

    Cain repeatedly makes note of the fact that he is outside the command chain (hence his more frank and personal relationship with Zyvan), thus he can't technically give orders to IG soldiers (he gets away with it due to his good relationship with the Valhallans and his evident combat experience).
    That and it's generally a good idea to listen to the guy that's fully authorized to shoot you if he feels like it.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Brother Oni View Post
    I think the difference is, that a Lord Commissar is a more senior Commissar in charge of recruitment and promotion.
    From The Last Ditch (page 225)- another footnote

    1. As the Commissariat doesn't have a hierarchical structure, like that of the Imperial Guard, seniority is determined purely by length of service and number of commendations. In the last century or so the convention of referring to the longest serving and most decorated veterans as Lord (or Lady) Commissars has gained some currency, although Cain, who would most certainly have qualified for such an honorific, disdained the practice, and always refused to be addressed in such a manner.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Knight13 View Post
    Also, it may be possible to talk to the Emperor directly in the throne room in the Imperial Palace, since I've seen in some sources that the Emperor can freely manipulate reality in there. But since no one except the Adeptus Custodes ever go in there, nobody knows.
    I think Jaq Draco went in there and had a brief audience with the Empreror, but came out pretty much as confused as when he went in.

    Quote Originally Posted by Knight13 View Post
    To take an example from the Ghosts, "Feth" is one of their tree gods. To take another, the natives of Fenris worship Leman Russ.
    Huh, so their use of 'feth' as a curse word is both vulgar and blasphemous. Two birds with one stone.

    Quote Originally Posted by Knight13 View Post
    That and it's generally a good idea to listen to the guy that's fully authorized to shoot you if he feels like it.
    The problem with being a little too trigger happy is that it often results in fragging, something which Cain mentions a couple times. Remember, while a bullet (or lasbolt/bolter round) may have your name on it, shrapnel is addressed "To whom it may concern".

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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Brother Oni View Post
    I think Jaq Draco went in there and had a brief audience with the Empreror, but came out pretty much as confused as when he went in.
    Lord Inquisitor Hector Rex's titles (in the Siege of Vraks books- book 3) include one that specifies he's been granted an audience with the Emperor.

    So that's another example.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Going back to IG structure, how many men are there in an infantry regiment?

    Tanith First and Only had about 2000 men at full strength, but the Valhallan 597th only has 1000 soldiers I believe.

    I know the 596th was formed out of the decimated remains of two other regiments, which would account for its initially short numbers, but they don't seem to increase that much over the years (then again, Valhalla does support a number of regiments so new recruits would be spread out among all of them).

    Is it just variable depending how many people they can enlist/conscript at the time or is there an IG version of the Codex Astartes?

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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Brother Oni View Post
    Going back to IG structure, how many men are there in an infantry regiment?
    'Typically several thousand'.

    Basically it depends on your homeworld, and what your regiment is for. It can vary anywhere between 100 men or so, or over 100,000.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    What exactly IS an audience with the Emperor? Do they actually let you in, before him and all that jazz? And what happens then?
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    I imagine it means the Adeptus Custodes actually let you into the throne room, before the God-Emperor on the Golden Throne and everything. They would probably also have about 27 different guns pointed at your head to make sure you don't try anything.

    What happens then? Well, the Emperor speaks to you. His actual physical body may be more or less a rotting corpse, but he's still conscious to some degree and that close to the Throne he can manipulate reality pretty freely. So he can still talk, either out loud or directly in your head.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Brother Oni View Post
    Going back to IG structure, how many men are there in an infantry regiment?

    Tanith First and Only had about 2000 men at full strength, but the Valhallan 597th only has 1000 soldiers I believe.

    I know the 596th was formed out of the decimated remains of two other regiments, which would account for its initially short numbers, but they don't seem to increase that much over the years (then again, Valhalla does support a number of regiments so new recruits would be spread out among all of them).

    Is it just variable depending how many people they can enlist/conscript at the time or is there an IG version of the Codex Astartes?
    IG organizational structure is extremely loose and nonstandardized (for example, you'll find Colonels, Commanders, Marshals, Battle-masters, Tribunes and Warlords in charge of Regiments, Armies, Legions and Battallions, all at about the same rank), which results in a lot of variation. The number of soldiers in an individual regiment varies significantly based on what sort of regiment it is, where it was raised, when it was raised, who raised it and what sort of history it has. Notably, the 597th you use as an example is a mechanized regiment, not infantry, which accounts for the unusually low overall strength. Armoured and artillery regiments are typically even smaller than that, with a typical tank regiment, according to the old Armoured Company rules, consisting of somewhere in the region of 600 soldiers operating and maintaining 95 or so tanks.

    Generally speaking, Cheesegear is correct about the sheer variation in infantry regiments, though 100 is seriously low-ball; generally, you won't see a Regiment with less than 500 men. That said, if you want the "gold standard" of infantry regiments, the Cadian VIII is made up of 24 companies, each 300 soldiers strong, plus supporting elements including chimeras and sentinels that bump the regiment's overall strength to about 8000 men.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    What happens then? Well, the Emperor speaks to you. His actual physical body may be more or less a rotting corpse, but he's still conscious to some degree and that close to the Throne he can manipulate reality pretty freely. So he can still talk, either out loud or directly in your head.
    Actualy, im pretty sure that the huge leadership issue's the imperium has is largely a result of the emperor not being able to do any leading anymore, and that he cant talk at all.

    Though of course there is allways a few crazy people claiming that the emperor has spoken to them.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by GolemsVoice View Post
    What exactly IS an audience with the Emperor? Do they actually let you in, before him and all that jazz? And what happens then?
    I only know two examples.

    Hector Rex is the greatest Inquisitor ever.
    Jaq Draco had to sneak and fight his way in.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Wait, somebody actually managed to fight his way past the Custodes?
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by lord_khaine View Post
    Actualy, im pretty sure that the huge leadership issue's the imperium has is largely a result of the emperor not being able to do any leading anymore, and that he cant talk at all.
    This is correct.

    After being interred within the Golden Throne, the Emperor would sporadically communicate using his psychic powers to a select few of his subordinates, however his words were often cryptic or just downright confused. This only lasted for about a 1,000 years or so and then he lapsed into a silence that has not been broken in over nine millenia.

    In the 41st millenium, the only way that communication has occurred with the Emperor is through the Emperor's Tarot - which is at best vague and at worst superstition, which we all know Tzeentch just loves to play around with. GW have never definitively said that the Tarot is a direct and accurate link to the Emperor, any more than 'real' Tarot cards are a direct and accurate link to something in our world. It's all down the who is using them, and how their particular story is being told, that determines how 'real' they are.

    There are some examples of people apparently communicating with the Emperor - Alicia Dominicia probably being the most famous - but no one has ever found out exactly what took place. She may have been 'spoken' to, or so may have reached some Divine Epiphany brought on by her surroundings, but we'll probably never know for sure.

    The next closest would probably be the Soul Binding Process used on Imperial Navigators. Their minds are momentarily touched with that of the Emperor, killing or driving insane most and empowering the few that survive. Whether or not this could be considered 'communication' varies greatly from case to case - there's a long list of side-effects that occur even to the successful supplicants, and claiming to hear His voice is probably the least of what they could expect.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cheesegear
    I only know two examples.
    As well as the examples I have given above, all 169 Masters of the Ordos Malleus have the right to hold an audience with the Emperor. Whether or not He has ever 'spoken' to them, of course, is an entirely different matter.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by DaedalusMkV View Post
    Generally speaking, Cheesegear is correct about the sheer variation in infantry regiments, though 100 is seriously low-ball; generally, you won't see a Regiment with less than 500 men. That said, if you want the "gold standard" of infantry regiments, the Cadian VIII is made up of 24 companies, each 300 soldiers strong, plus supporting elements including chimeras and sentinels that bump the regiment's overall strength to about 8000 men.
    Hmm, I wasn't aware that the IG had the light/motorised/mechanised/armoured infantry differentiation, but I guess that just emphasises the tech level disparity throughout the whole Imperium, especially since 'cavalry' covers people riding animals (or cyborg war beasts) up to tanks.

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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Hmm, I wasn't aware that the IG had the light/motorised/mechanised/armoured infantry differentiation, but I guess that just emphasises the tech level disparity throughout the whole Imperium, especially since 'cavalry' covers people riding animals (or cyborg war beasts) up to tanks.
    That's part of it, but they do have infantry specializations for organizational reasons as well. A lot of people think the IG are all TANKS FOR THE TANK GOD, TREADS FOR THE TREAD THRONE, but they do recognize that there are still things that foot infantry are better suited for. So they have separate foot infantry regiments, like the Ghosts.
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    Default Re: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    The next closest would probably be the Soul Binding Process used on Imperial Navigators.
    Astropaths to be precise- but yes.
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