The World of 'Warhammer 40K': The Imperium of Man

TV & Film

Mar 2

The Imperium of Man is the great bastion of humanity in the far future that is the 42nd Millenium of Warhammer 40K. Founded by the Emperor of Mankind over 10,000 years ago, it reunited the majority of human worlds lost during the era of Old Night, an ancient time when the high civilization of humanity had collapsed and thousands of worlds were cut off from each other.

In the modern era, the Imperium faces threats from all sides, but at its beck and call are a host of warriors and protectors who rise to face the tides of heretics and xenos. Today at CultureSlate, we give a summary of the tabletop factions of the Imperium of Man.

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Adeptus Astartes (Space Marines)

The poster children of Warhammer 40K, the Space Marines are transhuman super soldiers created through complex and painful surgeries to mortal men. These grant them enhanced physical strength, enhanced speed, and unique biological functions, all in the name of defending humanity. 20 Legions of Space Marines, each led by a Primarch, once helped expand the Imperium of Man across the stars in the reconquest of thousands of lost human worlds from Terra (Earth) but the Horus Heresy changed everything. 9 Legions turned traitor, and the civil war that followed hobbled the Imperium in ways it has still never recovered from. In the modern Imperium, Space Marine forces are broken down into Chapters of roughly 1,000 Space Marines, with one Chapter retaining the name, homeworld and heraldry of the original Legion that succeeding Chapters draw their geneseed from.

The return of the dormant Primarch Roboute Guilliman has seen the rise of the Primaris Space Marines, a further enhancement and improvement on the old processes, with older Marines able to “cross the rubicon Primaris” and take on the new organs and traits the Primaris possess. The Legions who remained loyal to the Emperor and who still exist in the 42nd Millennium are the Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Salamanders, Iron Hands, Imperial Fists, White Scars, and Raven Guard. But there are also three special groups of Space Marines who should be singled out.

Deathwatch: This group of diverse Astartes are devoted to the death of xenos, conducting surgical purges across the galaxy on black ops missions targeting the real or perceived alien threats to the Imperium. Some are honored warriors who are chosen or sent by their Chapter to serve, while others are seeking to perform acts of penance or service for some failure in the past. They often work closely with Imperial Agents.
Grey Knights: These psychic warriors are exclusively devoted to combating Chaos Demons and acting to ensure that Chaos corruption does not spread across the Empire. They use unique artifacts and knowledge to combat threats from the Warp, and have limited powers of divination and foresight that allows them to intervene in situations that might prove exceptionally dangerous.
Black Templars: Most Chapters of Space Marines do not believe that the Emperor is a god, in line with his now ancient wish that the Imperium be secular. However, some Chapters have come to believe the words of the priesthood, and do worship the Emperor. The Black Templars are the most fanatical of these Chapters, heretic-hating, purge-loving Space Marines who chain their weapons into their hands so they cannot release them until the mission in the name of the God Emperor is complete.

Astra Militarum

The human soldiers of the Imperium are legion, formed of conscripts, penal units, and everything in between. They are also endlessly available as some worlds devote their entire existence just to producing soldiers for the Imperium. These worlds, often home to unique units shaped by the local culture, climate, or both, are treasured by the Imperium for their contributions. Some of these units include the Death Korps of Krieg, the jungle-master fighters of Katachan, and the Cadian Shock Troops, whose homeworld’s destruction helped set the modern age of 40K into motion.

Despite how many soldiers there are, the Imperium has crippling logistics and political issues that often make effective use of these forces impossible without the proper leadership or driving force for a particular military operation. The Astra Militarum is also infamous for its commissars, who ruthlessly push the troops onward into massive wave assaults as the Imperium tends to throw bodies at their greatest problems on the battlefield.

Adeptus Custodes

The golden armored men and women of the Adeptus Custodes are the personal guards and companions to the Emperor of Mankind, having been created millennia ago at the dawn of the Emperor’s conquests to unite ancient Earth. Each warrior is a sophisticated genetic marvel, the best of the best of the BEST, peerless in combat skill as much as they are with appreciating artwork or discussing the finer points of theoretical physics.

They are also capable of incredibly physical feats as befits their enhanced biology. Since the entombment of the Emperor in the Golden Throne though, they have been relatively insular, only occasionally involving themselves in wider Imperium matters, at least until recently. They are divided between a handful of subgroups who serve different functions both in the Imperial Palace and outside of it. Most recently, the Adeptus Custodes deployed against the Tyrannids in the Fourth Tyrannic War, looking to help stem the endless tide that threatened to encircle Terra.

Adeptus Mechanicus

The tech priests of Mars are a unique faction for how they exist as a parallel empire within the Imperium of Man. Separated from Earth during Old Night, the inhabitants of Mars created a faith worshiping machinery. By the time the Emperor arrived millennia later, they had a robust theology and structure that the Imperium allied with to help manufacture and maintain all of the technology of their developing Great Crusade and newly founded Imperium. During the Horus Heresy, the Mechanicum of Mars split, divided into a traitor faction that rejected the old deal made with the Emperor, but these traitors were ultimately defeated though many survived, the group emerging as the Dark Mechanicum in the modern era.

The modern Mechanicus, who remain allied with the Imperium, also stand out for rejecting the idea of invention, instead believing that all technology and knowledge already exists out in the universe, and they need only find and claim it for themselves. For this reason, they sent out, and continue to send out, Explorator Fleets to scour the galaxy for this knowledge. Their powerbase is also drawn from Forge Worlds, vast industry-covered planets filled with foundries, servants and raw materials used to produce all kinds of goods for the Imperium.

Adepta Sororitas

The Adepta Sororitas, also called the Sisters of Battle, are holy female warriors who serve the Ecclesiarcy, the central religious power of the Imperium of Man. Their modern iteration arose as a bureaucratic loophole that allowed the Ecclesiarchy to retain a fighting force of warriors for protection and security following a period of great strife during the Imperium's history.

In the years since, the Sororitas has risen to great prominence due to this unique status, but also because their absolute faith in the Emperor of Mankind has seen a substantially higher number of miracles and holy events that help the Imperium persist. Broken in several orders that oversee different tasks and spheres of influence, they also have a high number of living saints, such as Saint Celestine, and have been incredibly active in the galaxy of the 42nd Millennium. Their faith is vital in pushing back the hordes of Chaos and other threats which have arisen to challenge the faithful of the God Emperor.

Imperial Knights and Titan Legions

Imperial Knights and Titans are massive robots which tower over the average man, and in the case of the Titans, dwarf many modern skyscrapers in our own real world. Knights and Titans are controlled by a driver connected to a unique interface device, but the massive machines also have their own personalities and “machine spirits” as the Mechanicus would say. Both Knights and Titans also tend to have an association with the Mechanicus, who help maintain the constructs.

Many Knights originate from feudal worlds that only later fell into the sphere of influence of the Mechanicus, while Titans have a more varied, mysterious origin from the lost ages of humanity’s past. Both are also next to impossible to manufacture in the modern Imperium, and are ancient machines which have seen countless wars and bonded with countless pilots. The Horus Heresy was a particularly devastating time for these machines, as some Knight Houses and Titan Legions turned against the Imperium, and great battles were fought on the surface of worlds which often left them devastated wastelands as these huge machines traded fire with each other.

Imperial Agents

Imperial Agents is the term on the tabletop for units that represent the remaining sorts of combatants the Imperium might field. This category is dominated by the Inquisition and its Inquisitors, whose diverse retinues of warriors, scholars, mechanics and pilots help an Inquisitor watch over the Imperium to help root out heresy, thwart xenos plots, or purge Chaos corruption.

The Inquisition is divided into two main philosophies, one that advocates for a static Imperium, unchanging and remaining as it is, while the other advocates for change, and thinks that new ideas and discoveries are to be embraced. This often reveals itself in an Inquisitor’s feelings on the xenos of the galaxy, seeing them as either enemies to be completely rejected, or sources of knowledge and alliance to be engaged with.

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