The world's first academic conference celebrating all things Warhammer
Abstract Within the broader digital humanities field lies the application of mathematical techniques to understand and quantify literature. The use of these approaches can provide a different perspective on a work, can enhance our ability to visualize complex and evolving narratives, and can potentially quantify aspects of the narrative. This last feature is especially relevant …
Abstract As I sit down in my scriptorium, the cogitator comes alive with a touch of my finger, its spirit has grown accustomed to in lengthy rituals of familiarization after it was first assigned to me. Eager to work, it presents me with chatter from the noosphere that still my flesh is too weak to …
Abstract The Warhammer 40´000 setting is characterised by its proverbial “grim darkness”. Its take on the far future is a highly dystopian one. The most important polity in the setting, the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man, is described as the worst possible regime. It is a militaristic, xenophobic, highly repressive dictatorship. By contrast, the T’au Empire …
Abstract When influential as well as controversial philosopher Martin Heidegger wrote “Die Frage nach der Technik” (1954), he did not have in mind the dark age of technology, but rather the danger of a reduction of human being to a resource (“Bestand”) inherent to the purely technical world-view of our time. Most perfidiously, this “Gefahr” …
Abstract The world of 40k has forever been at war with the concept of Artificial Intelligence. The Imperium of Man ever wrestles with its fear of Men of Iron whilst simultaneously protecting and pacifying its myriad machine spirits. They preach against the return of ‘Abominable Intelligences’ while they battle the supernatural might of Daemon Engines. …
Abstract Prominent in the annals of grimdark transhumanism is the notion of digital metempsychosis; the virtual reincarnation of the soul into a novel, engineered host body. Nowhere in Warhammer 40K lore is this more prominent than the continued efforts of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl to fully resurrect his friend and companion, Tech-Priest Friedisch Adum Silip …
Abstract “Everything is Canon” or so goes the meme which exploded through the Warhammer 40,000 online community in mid April 2024. In reaction to the ostensibly new revelation of female Custodes in the 10th Edition a proportion of 40K fans declared this news as “heretical” and a betrayal of the fandom. In response Games Workshop …
Abstract The experience of imprisonment is an experience of powerlessness. Prisoners get to control almost nothing about their lives. Many turn to creative pastimes as a way to escape, to pass the time and to reassert control over a part of their lives. Prisoners may build with matchsticks, write or draw. When I was a …
The Imperial Records, an extensive compendium documenting over 40,000 years of human history across the galaxy, embody a complex narrative of knowledge preservation amidst censorship and loss. This study delves into the multifaceted nature of these records, which oscillate between being apocryphal, incomplete, censored, or heretical, yet stand as the primary source of historical knowledge …
Abstract Within Warhammer 40,000 (40K), the Emperor of Man sought unity, a single truth, and eradication of alternative beliefs . After his entombment, the Imperial Cult proclaimed him God-Emperor and became increasingly rigid and stagnant over time. Diversity and understanding eroded under a single edict maintained under eternal warfare. Despite the diverse influences evident in …
Abstract A major theme in the bestselling book series The Horus Heresy is fatherhood. The inciting incident of the series is the abandonment of Horus Lupercal by his father The Emperor, and many of the primarchs struggle with their positions as gene-fathers to the adeptus astartes, as well as to the various father figures in …
Abstract This case study reflects advising a Warhammer Alliance club at a private Northern California Middle School and the observations of American middle schoolers. From collaborative storytelling, low risk/high rewards probability models, and the exploration of 41st Millennium “Grimdark” themes of Theocracy, Imperialism, and Xenophobia while promoting 21st century SEL skills of Inclusivity and Peer …
Abstract One would expect the Horus Heresy series to only expand on background information already available in Warhammer 40,000 rulebooks and codices to create fully-fledged novels. With the first novel ‘Horus Rising’ (written by Dan Abnett and published in 2006), however, the authors began already to add new aspects to the background story. For example, …
Abstract The Imperium of Man is an explicitly eugenic state, pursing its obsessive campaign of purifying humanity at all costs. Both those with conventional disabilities and the crip-coded psykers and mutants are routinely either purged from the gene pool or are “cured” through super-science that erase disability as an identity category, including via the elimination …
For many fans of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, John Blanche needs no introduction. He simply is Warhammer. His work has inspired thousands, if not millions of hobbyists across the globe in a career that spanned decades, and has literally shaped a whole genre of art and literature, known as Grimdark. In this keynote John joins …