The world's first academic conference celebrating all things Warhammer
In the Horus Heresy series, the Edict of Nikaea looms large as one of the setting’s most pivotal narrative events. With the Edict, the Emperor proscribed the use of Warp-derived psyker powers by the Legiones Astartes and nominally disbanded the psychically-gifted Librarius orders—at great cost both to the individual Astartes of the Librarius and to …
Superficially, the Imperium of Man within Games Workshop’s ‘Warhammer 40,000’ fictional universe is presented as a pastiche theocratic autocracy. Its sprawling territory is ruled by the Lord Commander of the Imperium and the Council of the High Lords of Terra on behalf of the God Emperor of Mankind. At a mundane level, Imperial authority is …
Warhammer 40,000 draws its influences from across history; notably the in-universe history, theology, and iconography of the Imperial Cult and the Adeptus Ministorum are inspired by the medieval and early modern Roman Catholic Church. One instance of the history of the Adeptus Ministorum paralleling the history of Catholicism can be seen in origin of one …
Abstract Beset on all sides and within, even with a million worlds, humanity fights a long-drawn battle of attrition. If the Imperium of Man wants to stand a chance, technology is its only hope. And even if it lacks behind, compared to the Necron or Eldar, human ingenuity once rules the stars. Technology is so …
Abstract Warhammer 40,000 is by the admission of its creators, a satire of Britain in the 1980s. It is a representation of a squalid, sprawling failed empire, where human life has ceased to matter as anything other than oil for the machinery of a broken state. In this talk I will characterise this satire using …
Abstract The Imperium of Man is often portrayed as the last bastion against the corrupting influenceof Chaos. Yet, the methods employed by the Imperium are as ruthless as the enemies theyseek to destroy. Governed by the decrees of the God-Emperor, the Imperium enforces abrutal order through fear, repression, and unyielding orthodoxy. It is a society …
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 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 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 …