History Fridge / Warhammer40000

* It's hinted that the Tyranids are fleeing from something in their galaxy. Keep in mind that the Tyranids aren't frightened off with the Milky Way of Warhammer40000 aka one of the biggest (if not ''the'' biggest) [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack Worlds]] in all fiction. Does this mean that whatever they're running from is '''worse''' than everything present in Warhammer40000?!

* Its common knowledge that each of the Primarchs were made in part of the Emperor's, but what exactly that part is tends to be not out right stated. Some argue Horus was his ambition, which is what led to him being a great Warmaster before the heresy. Sanginius was his nobility, which is what led to all of the Primarchs being so impressed by him. But what makes this fridge horror is Angron who is not the Emperor's anger like his name would suggest, because he is constantly angry whereas it actually takes quite a bit for the Emperor to be angry in the few scenes we see of him. More like Rogal Dorn in fact, and when he does it often is because of betrayal. But then we see Angron against Gulliman and for the first time we see him utterly wreck a person, his brother primarch, with just words because he is in fact the Emperor's philosophy. He wants to unite people (his gladiator brothers/humanity) but the universe seems to be constantly tearing down his dreams (the Emperor/ the Chaos gods) and when in doubt he seems to default to destroying everything (Rage/Purge the xenos/heretic/mutant/etc.).

** Perhaps the Tyranids and Necrons will cancel each other out to an extent. Biological versus Mechanical, both with a certain 'unstoppable tide' feel, endless production against endless ressurection, Life VS Death...

** Which is what the Eldar wanted, a race unaffected by the warp yet under their own "Control". A mallaeble race as without psykers. The Tau refuse to believe in Eldar is using them while the Eldar manipulates the Imperium to being expendable meat shields to take care of the Warp Abominations. Although back in finding Fridge Brilliance. During Soulstorm, apart from the terrible writing, there is a Fridge Brilliance in Carron's stupidity. The Warp Storm and his worship of Khorne have driven him even more insane and drunk with power. If the storm never have had happened, there would be less insane ramblings.

* Consider: The ranges of weapons on the tabletop in 40k seem to be absurdly short in terms of modern weaponry, on the order of a couple of hundred feet for most small-arms. But: Modern designers are trying to outrange other modern designers. They don't have to deal with [[OurOrksAreBetter all]] [[HordeOfAlienLocusts the]] [[TheLegionsOfHell possible]] [[BloodKnight enemies]] in 40k whose standard mode of operation involves getting up close really, really fast and against whom making overpowered weapons matters a hell of a lot more than making long-ranged weapons.

** Reality would like a word with you in regards to your assertions about secularity, education, and art...

** May be partially justified for Imperial factions though, considering both the Imperium's SchizoTech situation, and the fact that the [[ChurchMilitant Imperial Cult]] enforces a strong MartyrdomCulture.

* Considering that most of the major factions are somewhere between Type I and Type II on the [[AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit Kardashev scale]] (with local variations in cases like the Imperium), you'd think that infantry combat would be largely obsolete in 40K. It's justified for [[TheHorde Orks]], [[TheLegionsOfHell Daemons]], and Tyranids, who are either at low TechnologyLevels with a few advanced pieces of equipment here and there, use no technology apart from [[DemonicPossession daemonically possessed war machines]] and the occasional piece of {{Magitek}}, or are just a straight-up HordeOfAlienLocusts, but surely the other sentient factions would have switched over to full-blown armour and air-based combat? It's especially strange that the Eldar (who are not only a DyingRace, but also a solid Type II on the Kardashev scale) and Necrons (a race of super-advanced TranshumanAliens, who were specifically said to have [[HigherTechSpecies advanced their science as far as possible]]) still rely on footsoldiers to handle a lot of their combat.

* Considering that most of the major factions are somewhere between Type I and Type II on the [[AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit Kardashev scale]] (with local variations in cases like the Imperium), you'd think that infantry combat would be largely obsolete in 40K. It's justified for [[TheHorde Orks]], [[TheLegionsOfHell Daemons]], and Tyranids, who are either at low TechnologyLevels with a few advanced pieces of equipment here and there, use no technology apart from [[DemonicPossession daemonically possessed war machines]] and the occasional piece of {{Magitek}} (Daemons), or are just a straight-up HordeOfAlienLocusts, but surely the other sentient factions would have switched over to full-blown armour and air-based combat? It's especially strange that the Eldar (who are not only a DyingRace, but also a solid Type II on the Kardashev scale) and Necrons (a race of super-advanced TranshumanAliens, who were specifically said to have [[HigherTechSpecies advanced their science as far as possible]]) still rely on footsoldiers to handle a lot of their combat.

* Considering that most of the major factions are somewhere between Type I and Type II on the [[AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit Kardashev scale]] (with local variations in cases like the Imperium), you'd think that infantry combat would be largely obsolete in 40K. It's justified for [[TheHorde Orks]], [[TheLegionsOfHell Daemons]], and Tyranids, who are either at low TechnologyLevels with a few advanced pieces of equipment here and there, use no technology apart from [[DemonicPossession daemonically possessed war machines]] and the occasional piece of {{Magitek}} (Daemons), or are just a straight-up [[HordeOfAlienLocusts]], but surely the other sentient factions would have switched over to full-blown armour and air-based combat? It's especially strange that the Eldar (who are not only a DyingRace, but also a solid Type II on the Kardashev scale) and Necrons (a race of super-advanced TranshumanAliens, who were specifically said to have [[HigherTechSpecies advanced their science as far as possible]]) still rely on footsoldiers to handle a lot of their combat.

* Considering that most of the major factions are somewhere between Type I and Type II on the [[AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit Kardashev scale]] (with local variations in cases like the Imperium), you'd think that infantry combat would be largely obsolete in 40K. It's justified for [[TheHorde Orks]] and [[TheLegionsOfHell Daemons]], who are either at low TechnologyLevels with a few advanced pieces of equipment here and there (Orks), or use no technology apart from [[DemonicPossession daemonically possessed war machines]] and the occasional piece of {{Magitek}} (Daemons), but surely the other sentient factions would have switched over to full-blown armour and air-based combat? It's especially strange that the Eldar (who are not only a DyingRace, but also a solid Type II on the Kardashev scale) and Necrons (a race of super-advanced TranshumanAliens, who were specifically said to have [[HigherTechSpecies advanced their science as far as possible]]) still rely on footsoldiers to handle a lot of their combat.

** May be partially justified for Imperial factions though, considering both the Imperium's SchizoTech situation, and the fact that the [[ChurchMilitant Imperial Cult]] promotes a strong [[MartyrdomCulture]].

* Considering that most of the major factions are somewhere between Type I and Type II on the [[AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit Kardashev scale]] (with local variations in cases like the Imperium), you'd think that infantry combat would be largely obsolete in 40K. It's justified for [[TheHorde Orks]] and [[TheLegionsOfHell Daemons]], who are either at low TechnologyLevels with a few advanced pieces of equipment here and there (Orks), or use no technology apart from [[DemonicPossession daemonically possessed war machines]] and the occasional piece of {{Magitek}} (Daemons), but surely the other sentient factions would have switched over to full-blown armoured combat? It's especially strange that the Eldar (who are not only a DyingRace, but also a solid Type II on the Kardashev scale) and Necrons (a race of super-advanced TranshumanAliens, who were specifically said to have [[HigherTechSpecies advanced their science as far as possible]]) still rely on footsoldiers to handle a lot of their combat.
** May be partially justified for Imperial factions though, considering both its SchizoTech situation, and the fact that the [[ChurchMilitant Imperial Cult]] considers placing HonorBeforeReason to be [[MartyrdomCulture a virtue]].

** May be partially justified for Imperial factions though, considering both its SchizoTech situation, and the fact that the [[ChurchMilitant Imperial Cult]] considers placing [[HonorBeforeReason]] to be a virtue.

* The concept of Machine Spirits. They seem like an oddly anthropomorphic trait for a society like the Imperium to have. Then you have to remember; there are no real computers in their society; The Dark Age of Technology scared them away from directly intelligent technology. They only have lobotomized humans with bio-programming, known as servitors, as a means to control their vehicles. That means in all vehicles in the Imperium, from grav-lifts to star freighters to God-titans, there is at least one servitor integral to running the intimate systems of each craft. This means the spirits are these servitors who have somehow gained a new form of sentience, individual or gestalt, that is directly tied to the vehicle they are now a part of. This idea, at least personally, explains why machine spirits exist and can be extinguished, as well as corrupted by the Warp; Why they must be and can be appeased; and Why more advanced vehicles like titans must have an operator compatible with the machine spirit. Ironically, this is another example of the Imperium being just a bastardized imitation of the Eldar.

** Except they can't fly. The four castes of the Tau are named for elements, roughly reflecting the nature of the caste in question. The Fire caste are the warriors, the Water caste are the merchants and bureaucrats, the Earth caste are the farmers, factory workers, and laborers. The Air caste are the messengers and crews of the merchant marine that keep the empire together by providing lines of transit and communication between worlds and communities. They're named "Air caste" because they can go anywhere; and the physiological differences they display are caused by living in low- and micro-gravity environments for most of their lives. As to why the Tau species survived on its homeworld, that happened for pretty much the exact same reasons humans survived prehistory: intelligence and learning in an environment where that was the only advantage they had. That and the Imperium didn't wipe them out when they were discovered in .m34 only because a Warp Storm blew up and conveniently shielded that area of the Galaxy for several millennia...think about that coincidence for a minute.

** There's also the fact that Space Marines are ''ludicrously'' tough. One novel had a space marine suffer a [[BoomHeadshot shot to the head from a bolter]] which ''blew off the left side of his head'' and kept fighting and only realized it happened when he realized he ''couldn't see out of his left eye''. Combine the fact that they can survive in atmospheres that would ''kill'' normal humans quickly, and in some cases (Space Wolves) their helmet's sensors are ''less effective'' than the Astartes' natural senses, it's justified.

* One thing that's always slightly irritated me about the artistic depictions of Space Marines is how sometimes they aren't wearing helmets. Considering all the things that could easily kill them with one slap to the skull, it would seem logical to keep it on. While it would normally be a demonstration of {{Helmets Are Hardly Heroic}}, I realized something: It's supposed to be ''art''! The artist removes the Space Marine's helmets for the image so the viewers can tell who's supposed to be the centerpiece Space Marine.

** Further FridgeBrilliance: Only a nation that has gotten over [[TheCrusades religious extremism]], [[TheMiddleAges oppressive governments]] and [[WorldWarII devastating war]] can take such a setting lightly enough to present it as escapist entertainment.

** I once thought well Leman Russ left the galaxy in order to stop an outside force he had a dream was going to be the greatest threat to all of man, so he left to go fight it before it got to the Imperium. What if the nids are fleeing from the Primarch Leman Russ, the wolf king??