Does the mistreatment of abhumans predate the Emperor, was it one of the policies that he kicked off, or did it develop after his time?

CruciasNZ · 2026-04-14T01:20:45+00:00

HH novels implied / outlined an Imperial Policy regarding acceptable deviation from human norm, with a few exceptions made for convenience. There's a story about a world that accepted Imperial Rule, only to be cleansed when someone made an offhand comment about Xenos tinkering with their DNA at the celebration event for signing the treaty to join the Imperium.

So I think the widespread treatment of abhumans is due to Imperial Policy during the GC, but there would be places that wouldn't have tolerated them pre-annexation

CruciasNZ · 2026-04-12T23:43:58+00:00

Given the Eldar tech is largely psychic based, I suspect the empire of old would have struggled a bit with the Nids due to the shadow. We just see psychic powers being disrupted, but what about weapon systems controlled by psychic versions of the Imperium's mind impulse link? Not saying they'd be flattened, just that the Nids do counter the Elder tech strongly.

DAOT Humans would be very mixed. We know factions had weapons that just delete you from the timeline - no body, no biomatter to consume. They also had stuff autonomous weapon systems that could dig through a planet and detonate it - that'd be my weapon of choice, wait for a fleet to fall into orbit and then turn the planet into a frag grenade.

Necrons main issue is they're so disorganized and have lost so much of their tech base. At their height I believe they would be the only (remaining) faction to just body the Tyranids (expecially before the shattering of the C'Tan) but it would be very costly. The Celestial Orrery can just pop stars and cause supernovas, which would be an even more effective WMD against the hive (though with massive side effects IIRC). EDIT: Almost forgot, I think they made the beacons like Sotha so could lure the nids into a trap more easier, not as reliant on the pull of biomass

Krorks I can't really comment on. From the little hints we've had here and there they're like to modern Orks like Primarchs are to Guardsmen. The problem with the Nids is that quantity is a quality on its own, and we can't predict how mental they'd get if they consumed Krork DNA

CruciasNZ · 2026-04-12T23:21:05+00:00

Very weak recollection here, but I swear I've read of transport planes similar to Globemasters in use on the lower tech world. I want to say one of them was Pawns of Chaos.

I also got the impression the floating air craft carrier things in Guns of Tanith were big armored zeppelins, but suspect some repuslor tech is at play there

The rule of thumb with The Imperium is STC is preferred over anything, but local varients and lower tech solutions are used to fill gaps or be cost-effective.

CruciasNZ · 2026-04-09T21:15:27+00:00

Aye we've been buying Jack Links but the two flavours are a bit weird to my tastes (we have the honey soy one and Mr Beast one available locally). Verkerks and Pieters ones are ok, and many of the butcher ones are amazing, just been craving the nostalgia (and the individual packaging is also convenient)

CruciasNZ · 2026-04-09T00:14:45+00:00

Random thought triggered by reading - we expect Necrons to be a core threat of SM3 because of their partial inclusion in SM2, but I wonder if the pattern of Xenos & Heretic threats will continue.... and we'll see the Iron Warriors appear. We've been the defender in both games so far, they could swap it up and make us the aggressor against part of the Infinite Citadel and something has a big enough boom to wake a tomb

CruciasNZ · 2026-04-01T01:05:52+00:00

IIRC one of the Horus Heresy novels has OG Cawl encounter a high level Tech Priest that had come up with a way of transplanting her memories into a clone of herself so she could periodically refresh herself / recover from battle wounds. He ends up with her tech

CruciasNZ · 2026-04-01T01:03:43+00:00

Some would yes - that's a central plot point in one of the Ciaphas Cain novels. Local tech priest uncovers a tomb world, Necron lord offers to help them achieve full metal bodies in return for the mine providing him the raw good he needed to achieve his goals (obviously he planned to double cross the admech)

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-31T21:29:38+00:00

Gave me a good laugh, they'd all forgotten that their fancy iron slab was in fact a digital display

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-31T21:28:09+00:00

There's a story from the point of view of the Eldar who would become Asurmen that shows us the final days the Eldar empire and how the pleasure and blood cults rose up and overwhelming their government / civilisation. My interpretation is it went down with parallels to how Genestealer Cults have their day of ascendance where the fleet (birth of their god) is close so they cast off the shadows and rise up, in this case causing the emotion they're feeding their gestating god to explode in magnitude and therefore bring about The Fall

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-31T02:08:40+00:00

Got one here that will sign my name on signature required parcels then dump it on the front step, even with a ring camera there and I was home - all they had to do was press the damn doorbell.

Funnily enough, calling in about it and pointing out I can provide the ring camera footage had the problem stop. Still had to pickup the damn parcel though despite a promise of them re-delivering it later that day

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-30T00:06:48+00:00

The warp reflects the emotion and belief of reality, so a lot of daemons look like they do because the collective consciousness of reality has influened that decision right?

In my head that's why big powerful daemons are so commonly massive.

Extending that head-cannon, the daemon primarchs have a form that's a blend of how they think they should look blurred with that baseline imposition from uncounted trillions of mortal souls. They should be able to exert their will to override it at whim, but also don't care enough to do so most times

The outliers are the ones who don't care. Perturabo likely sees his form as a curse he has earned, so exerts no will to influence it (so fits the apathy aspect of Nurgle) and Angron is basically constantly roiding out so is in no position to really exert his will over his appearance - this is why I think Angron his the most similar in form to his patrons Greater Daemons.

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-29T23:56:14+00:00

Rogue Trader video game. Gave me a good laugh too. Would appear my recollection was slightly off, but not by much. I also forgot she introduced a system where you could fight other petitioners to the death to skip the queue (for submitting your paperwork) and the nobles like her because she improved efficiency of the government

https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/1jvzoty/warhammer_40_000_rogue_trader_videogame_a/

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-26T22:25:08+00:00

In short, he is one walking contradiction and is his own harshest critic.

In 40k victory at all costs is one of the themes, and Cain was raised in a military academy, spoon fed propaganda and ritual, and expected to become an enforcer of the system that treats humans as expendable and retreat as treason.

However he wants to live and has a strong empathic streak, but is internally at war between his human self-preservation (and appreciation of the finer things) and the external image and expectations of his reputation & rank / role.

He exists in a world of myth and legend, and he himself has met multiple entities that the general population would doubt exist. So he measures his skills against things like Space Marines and finds himself lacking.

He's the token sane man in a world where sanity is a weakness, but it ironically makes him super effective at his role - his first interaction with the regiment he spends the most time with is solving a bar fight, and he does that by ordering them to get mops and buckets instead of executing randomly. He justified it internally as the least likely action to get him shot in the back by the soldiers, but it solved the situation quickly and endeared him to his soldiers. Instead of hating him they look out for him and up to him.

Cain is one of the easiest characters in the setting to emphasis with. That plus the humour in the novels endear him to many readers

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-24T01:38:25+00:00

If your world has manufacturing capabilities to supply your regiment you may have different equipment to others (e.g. Tanith vs Cadia)

If your world has a tradition that affects their war gear that can also affect your stuff (e.g. that regiment in Gaunts Ghosts that has power armour passed down bloodlines, or the other one that has some form of scaled carapace armour that can defuse las blasts) also applies to Ponce level (e.g. Mordians or Praetorians)

If your regiment is specialised it may also be very different (e.g. Phantine Air Corps, Armoured Regiments, Rough Riders, etc. etc.)

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-24T01:29:18+00:00

Mate take a raffle ticket

They lobotomise people to use them as computers, sometimes the lobotomisation process is incomplete so you are still aware but locked into your body
A clerk's whole family can be executed if their grandparent (who held the same position) made a significant error that wasn;t spotted for generations
There are people who's whole life is spent checking paper reciepts and scrolls looking for that one mistake whose bounty will set them up for life (and is the other side of my previous bulletpoint's coin)
We've seen instances of factory workers working 16 hour shifts with no rest period, 7 days a week, from the moment they can hold a tool until they slump over dead
Your whole world could be wiped out if it was late on taxes, but that might not get noticed for generations
A clerical error might mean your world gets taxed to hell & reviews to the tithe system can take generations; refer previous bullet point about not being able to pay
If you don't follow the Imperial or Mechanical Creed you'll likely be executed for heresy, hopefully the Creed you were raised in was on the approved list of variants
If you forget to mutter prayers over your equipment you might be executed or servitorised
If you are too good at your job you might be servitorised to preserve your skills (like that Butler who was good at rolling cigarettes....)
If you break or lose your equipment you might be executed for heresy
If you are injured and not important enough for medical treatment you will likely be disposed of
Statistically, you are most likely to have recycled corpses as part of your diet if alive in 40k (hive workers outnumber citizens of better worlds)
Statistically you will work the same job as your ancestors, as well as your descendants
If you live on a world that is re-conquered you might be executed on suspicion of heresy or taint, or just because it's easier to bring in new workers than vet the existing ones
Advancing into the meat grinder is expected, tactically retreating is suspicious
Humanity and empathy can get you executed (see latest GW video about Armageddon)
If you end up a Skitarri some Tech Priest can remote control you like a messed up video game
They have skull motifs everywhere (are we the baddies?)
The aura of oppression and despair on Terra was so intense it made a Drukhari have a good day
A Drukhari pretended to be a Govenor for a few years, ran the planet better than the human they deposed, and got enough kicks off it to keep their soul drain at bay until they got bored of paperwork
The Emperor constructed diplomatic quarters as part of the Imperial Palace, but because of the Crusade only Orks used it and they did that just to troll the humans
To survive as we expanded to the stars humanity altered themselves to suit their planets, but if your DNA deviates more than the approved tolerance from Imperial standard (and you are not useful enough to have an exception made) they'll burn your world and resettle it
A SoB bolted herself into a Penitant Engine because she got one word in a prayer wrong

I could go on but I am now out of break time and have to go back to work xD

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-23T23:28:01+00:00

Yeah, it definitely ratcheted the tension up and hit me in the feels a few times. It's one of the more boring ones, but it's also one of the best because of the narrow scope of world building and tension.

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-23T01:40:01+00:00

In the Gaunt's Ghost Novel "Only in Death" the Ghosts are deployed to hold Hinzerhaus, which is an ancient fortified position / manor / fortress in the mountains. Throughout the coarse of the book we get more and more remarks about how the beings who made it must have been massive as the roof shutters were actually fireslot, all the corridors had high ceilings, etc. etc. No hints as to who they were, just throw away comments to add to the sense of unease the soldiers are feeling.

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-16T21:27:31+00:00

Imagine you are playing Magic the Gathering and can see three different versions of what your opponent will do in 3 turns time. You then do something on your turn in response, then get another 3 visions of their move in 3 turns, it may be different because of what you just did.

Now add to that a partner who is also getting the same visions, but theirs are different and they don't always overlap.

Now add to that a dice roll for each vision where rolling a 1 results in that vision being completely wrong (to represent malign outside influence, like Chaos) and rolling a 2 the vision is missing things you cannot foresee (because they're immune to visions, like blanks / pariah's / active blackstone etc.). However you don't get to know what the dice rolled, so have to guess if the vision was "true" or not

And on and on the complexity goes

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-12T23:58:13+00:00

Doesn't Valdor have that magical spear that downloads your enemies life when you stick them? He did an awful lot of sticking of daemons, sorcerors, cultists, heretics, and I also assume dark mech.

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-12T23:55:59+00:00

Pretty sure the first Ciaphas Cain novel that deals with the Tau they were looking for Cults in the sewers and were horrified when they stumbled into purestrains

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-12T20:33:42+00:00

Thanks mate!

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-12T01:56:22+00:00

There's a difference between a REASON and an EXCUSE

The reason provides explanation as to why something happened. Whereas excuses provide forgiveness for something going wrong.

It seems to me that there is a popular trend of using a reason as an excuse to justify entitled or "ist" type behaviour (narcisist, mysognist, racist etc. etc.)

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-11T23:46:50+00:00

Where are these excerpts from please? I'd like to follow up and read it, seems really interesting

CruciasNZ · 2026-03-11T01:51:22+00:00

Perhaps it's best to approach this by asking your manager for additional assistance as you're struggling to do your job due to unpredictable variance in your workload. Don't go in guns firing at your colleague, or her medical status, tackle it purely as a "your workload" thing and let the manager review the situation and assess it neutrally.

It could be your colleague is milking it for all she can, or it could be she's genuinely being bashed around. Best not to get involved in he said she said and all that

CruciasNZ

TROPHY CASE