Been hearing a lot of rumblings from normal people in the warhammer community they are tired of fascists worshipping the imperium of man in their community.

is it like a human supremacist group in the lore or something like the empire in Star Wars?

  • LoudMuffin [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    if you read like any of the popular W40k novels everything about the Imperium of man seems like unfettered dogshit

    the majority of the people live in decaying hovels eking out a miserable agricultural existence or in enormous planet sized slums that have all sorts of issues (rampant crime, gangs, mutants, etc.)

    if you're part of the actual government you are like an undying heavily bio augmented freak with an incredibly long lifespan (iirc Inquisitor Ravenor is like 300 years old lmfao) stemming back a tide of literally incomprehensible horrors that you aren't fully equipped to deal with

    like in Caiphas Cain the entire point of the series is that he's a regular commissar who frequently stumbles into absolutely insane, fucked up situations and spends most of his time trying to run the fuck away because getting turned into some mutant freak by Tyrannids is in no way cool or exciting

    god help you if you're part of the regular ass army

    • RandyLahey [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      ive read way too many 40k novels lol (yeah i read theory) and theres a huuuuuge disconnect between the different writers. youre absolutely right that the eisenhorn/ravenor books in particular are all about how incredibly dogshit the imperium is, and other books do make this clear as well

      but with a lot of the space marine focused ones you can just feel the authors jerking themselves off as they write (someone should compile all the bits from the horus heresy novels where they first describe each of the primarchs in particular lol) and they are often really uncritical or apologetic about not just the space marines but the imperium itself

      and of course the video games mostly go no deeper than "yay space marines"

      • LoudMuffin [he/him]
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        edit-2
        3 years ago

        I like the Grey Knights novels because everything they deal with is shown to be a nightmarish shitshow lol, I couldn't get into the Horus Heresy books

        also the moment in Gaunts Ghosts where the Chaos Space marines get fucking merc'ed by the indigenous people of a planet because they were too full of pride and hubris to wear helmets is 10/10 writing

        • RandyLahey [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          yeah youre not missing much, apart from a couple of the dan abnett ones (this is a recurring theme for 40k novels) the horus heresy novels are unadulterated dogshit

          and lol that sounds awesome

          • CyborgMarx [any, any]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Unironically Angel Exterminatus is a fantastic novel, like in the classical sense

            53 books you’re bound to hit gold

          • TreadOnMe [none/use name]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I think they make sense and are fun if you think about them less as a historical archive, and more like a space opera propaganda piece, with big men with big feelings that they can't deal with. Its like watching Riverdale but with more violence.

        • RandyLahey [he/him]
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          edit-2
          3 years ago

          none of them are anything remotely approaching good literature, but a good rule of thumb is that dan abnett and aaron dembski-bowden (sp?) are their two decent authors and everything else is complete and utter garbage

          yeah eisenhorn is probably a pretty good place to start and probably the best of the ones ive read, i think its a much more interesting portrayal of the imperium than the ones that are just 200 pages of space marines shooting at things

          edit: another series i would recommend are the aaron dembski bowden ones about the night lords - they always seemed like the most teenage edgelord chaos marines but their portrayal in these books is really interesting

          • leonadas444 [none/use name]
            hexagon
            ·
            3 years ago

            kind of What other people told me upon further investigation is that Dan and aaron are the only two people writing for them worth a damn.

            Thanks

            • anaesidemus [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              Yeah I draw a line between Dembski-Bowden/Abnett and whatever the other guys are doing.

              I think a better discussion would be who is the worst of them, I nominate Gav Thorpe.

              • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]
                ·
                3 years ago

                I tried reading some WH40k books but yeah, the comment about 200 pages of space marines shooting things is apt. Even the Caiphas Cain books, while holding some interesting material was full of mostly combat.

                I can't put my finger on why but even the first book of the Horus Heresy written by Dan Abnett (I think?) was too dull to continue and I'm not sure if it was combat intensive (ironically if I'd read it as a kid I probably would've loved it as I found these action scenes cool; now I just want a good story).

        • Prozmar [comrade/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I want to take an opportunity to recommend the only Warhammer books that can count as good literature - everything written by Peter Fehervari.

    • Mardoniush [she/her]
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      3 years ago

      Though the problem with the Guard books is that it shows ordinary people living somewhat fucked up but mostly ordinary lives. The Ghosts series makes it seem if the Imperium is just taxes and the church for 98% of the population and absurd horror only on the edges.