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So I was thinking about science things the other day, and I came to the realization that Terra makes no sense. In order for the oceans to all boil away, you need one of two things; Immense heat, or a lack of atmosphere. Both of these things would make the planet incompatible to human life, especially since GW implies that it still has an atmosphere, as well as a large population that walks around unprotected from the elements. Also, the amount of water vapor in the air would be tremendous, and probably create some interesting atmospheric activities, if not create more pressure that would crush people. (Similar to Venus.)

Yeah, yeah, I know, it is Sci Fi and all that, and to tell you the truth, I don't really care that it doesn't make a lot of sense.(There is quite a bit of that in the universe) I just figured that I would point it out and see what you guys thought about it.

Well theres one thing that can explain every single scientific inconsistency you just mentioned and any other anyone could conceive.
Magic ...
seriously ... you can pretty much anything with warp power, and explain everything and anything with it.

The water might be in the pipes...
The entire surface is a massive city.
Cities have pipes.
The water might be there.
The cities are most likely covered from the atmosphere

Isn't there about five times the entire volume of Earth worth of water in the Oort cloud? Given that the only way it makes any sense for the oceans to be gone is if the powers that be wanted them gone, perhaps to make room.

Matt Ward has addressed this before.

The Ultramarines have willed Terra be spared. In their fear of the Ultramarines, the Chaos Gods have erected a psychic barrier over the planet to protect it.

Anyway, this is probably just an oversight as GW aren't scientists.

Technically, the terran oceans are still in some places.


Terra is covered by one massive city and the water is basically in the basement with the city in these areas supported by stilts.



Terra was still a, realitilvly, pristine planet when horus wrecked the place. there were still oceans and open land in some areas. Cities had covered the polar ice caps and mountains.


Horus basically destroyed any natural plant and animal life that remained. the Oceans were largely vaporized by the Bombardments.

some of that water might have escaped into space, but it would have condensed eventually.

I think "boiled away" is over exagerated, the water has been consumed by the human's giant population.

you realize that humans just flush that water right back out.



unless the water actually leaves the planet it just goes back into the water clycle.

Well take into account the massive amounts of pollution. Think the green-house effect to the utter extreme. I imagine that could play real havoc with the oceans and atmosphere. Perhaps it is to blame.

Terra(or any Hive planet for that matter) does have Pollution problems, but they have Atmospheric Processors for that.


all those nasty pollutants can be harvested and used for things.

Grey Templar wrote:Terra(or any Hive planet for that matter) does have Pollution problems, but they have Atmospheric Processors for that.


all those nasty pollutants can be harvested and used for things.

In the case of normal Imperial planets yes. But that covers Hive-Cities, not Terra. Unless directly countered in fluff, this is my view on the matter. I don't mean to say any other view is wrong, it is simply the solution I think most viable.

Why would Terra be any different from other hive cities? Sure its over crowded... but its also beside Mars, and will have the benefit of the best tech and skilled technicians in the Imperium (for what that's worth

Mars keeps much to themselves (or am I too focused on the HH novels?), and think about it. Hive-Cities are described as being impossibly large by today's standards. Now take that to an ENTIRE PLANET. Its mind-boggling, and to say that systems that are designed for individual cities wouldn't be overloaded when tasked with scrubbing an entire planet's atmosphere is a bit of a stretch for me. Just adding more may not work.

Maybe they used all the water to make weapons or something. Water is an ingredient in a lotttt of chemicals...

From what I can remember in Tales of Heresy, that anthology of short stories with the World Eaters, and other stuff...

In the story The Last Church, didn't they mention the Marianas trench, one of the deepest (I say one of to cover my tracks, I don't actually know if it IS the deepest) points on our planet, is at that point known as the marianas gorge? as the oceans have boiled away, and it's left it more as a canyon rather than a underwater trench?

blazinpsycho&typhooni wrote:From what I can remember in Tales of Heresy, that anthology of short stories with the World Eaters, and other stuff...

In the story The Last Church, didn't they mention the Marianas trench, one of the deepest (I say one of to cover my tracks, I don't actually know if it IS the deepest) points on our planet, is at that point known as the marianas gorge? as the oceans have boiled away, and it's left it more as a canyon rather than a underwater trench?

Actually we know nothing 'bout what happened to Earth during DAoT and Old Night.There might be large amount of terraforming -incluing creation of new continents -and don't forget , marianas is just a little scratch on appleskin compared to planet itself and oceans is thinner than layer of wax on fruit.
Also - there's no clear understanding that can happen if ocean waters contact liquid mantle, there is possibilities that much of water can be chemically bound.
IMHO anyway after HH Terra could be dead world for millions of years(or forevr) if not rebuilt by Imperium.

It was ten thousand years ago, in "modern" 40k it's basically a hive world slash shrine world.

chyron wrote:

blazinpsycho&typhooni wrote:From what I can remember in Tales of Heresy, that anthology of short stories with the World Eaters, and other stuff...

In the story The Last Church, didn't they mention the Marianas trench, one of the deepest (I say one of to cover my tracks, I don't actually know if it IS the deepest) points on our planet, is at that point known as the marianas gorge? as the oceans have boiled away, and it's left it more as a canyon rather than a underwater trench?

Actually we know nothing 'bout what happened to Earth during DAoT and Old Night.There might be large amount of terraforming -incluing creation of new continents -and don't forget , marianas is just a little scratch on appleskin compared to planet itself and oceans is thinner than layer of wax on fruit.
Also - there's no clear understanding that can happen if ocean waters contact liquid mantle, there is possibilities that much of water can be chemically bound.
IMHO anyway after HH Terra could be dead world for millions of years(or forevr) if not rebuilt by Imperium.

Yeah there is nothing describing what happened during DAoT or the Old night, I was just referring to before the great crusade. The emporer also built that massive fortress out of the himalayans too so I doubt there's any terraforming that couldn't be done

Its slowly becoming blue again of course this is because they are spending alot of time trying to get the water back from all the places it imported the water too.

Asherian Command wrote:Its slowly becoming blue again of course this is because they are spending alot of time trying to get the water back from all the places it imported the water too.

That sounds made up.

jadebullet wrote: Immense heat, or a lack of atmosphere. Both of these things would make the planet incompatible to human life, especially since GW implies that it still has an atmosphere, as well as a large population that walks around unprotected from the elements..

Major fluff error, Terra is a hive city, every planet that has hive cities is an awful hellhole of pollution, waste and deserts, just look at Necromunda. The vast majority of Terran population live in the palace so are protected from the elements, add to the fact that most of population is heavily augmented to perform their work in the administum ( as seen in all the art).

I'm not sure for the 41st millenium, but during the HH, there was still water on Earth IIRC. True, it was always described as being heavily polluted and such, but it was still there. And the human population was still able to survive outside the cities. Again, it was relatively dangerous for their health on the long run and they could constantly smell pollutants in the air, but life outside the hive zones was still possible.

BluntmanDC wrote:

jadebullet wrote: Immense heat, or a lack of atmosphere. Both of these things would make the planet incompatible to human life, especially since GW implies that it still has an atmosphere, as well as a large population that walks around unprotected from the elements..

Major fluff error, Terra is a hive city, every planet that has hive cities is an awful hellhole of pollution, waste and deserts, just look at Necromunda. The vast majority of Terran population live in the palace so are protected from the elements, add to the fact that most of population is heavily augmented to perform their work in the administum ( as seen in all the art).

So are there any 'nice' planets in 40k? Because it was to my understanding that every planet had at least one hive city to serve as a Capitol. If there are inhospitable wastelands and jungle death worlds, are there any places in between? you know, a hospitable forest with bunnies? And lemonade? With no undead servitors or wires sticking out of you? That would be nice....

Monk1junk1 wrote:

BluntmanDC wrote:

jadebullet wrote: Immense heat, or a lack of atmosphere. Both of these things would make the planet incompatible to human life, especially since GW implies that it still has an atmosphere, as well as a large population that walks around unprotected from the elements..

Major fluff error, Terra is a hive city, every planet that has hive cities is an awful hellhole of pollution, waste and deserts, just look at Necromunda. The vast majority of Terran population live in the palace so are protected from the elements, add to the fact that most of population is heavily augmented to perform their work in the administum ( as seen in all the art).

So are there any 'nice' planets in 40k? Because it was to my understanding that every planet had at least one hive city to serve as a Capitol. If there are inhospitable wastelands and jungle death worlds, are there any places in between? you know, a hospitable forest with bunnies? And lemonade? With no undead servitors or wires sticking out of you? That would be nice....

There are planets with bunnies and flowers in the IoM.

There are agri-worlds, where life should not really be hard for most of the citizens. Think of a sunny planet entirely covered with wheat fields, fruit trees, fluffy space sheeps, etc. Doesn't it almost sound like a disney film?
And there are also paradise worlds, which are specially designed to be the private gardens of the Imperial Nobility. These worlds are terraformed to look calm, peaceful and relaxing for rich humans. I bet there are bunnies on these worlds too. But these bunnies would ask you if you would like anything to drink or if the bath is hot enough for you.

And then there'd be the "bunnies" wearing playboy outfits.

Melissia wrote:And then there'd be the "bunnies" wearing playboy outfits.

That's another story...

Cheesecat wrote:

Asherian Command wrote:Its slowly becoming blue again of course this is because they are spending alot of time trying to get the water back from all the places it imported the water too.

That sounds made up.

cause it is.

In Mechanicum, it mentions that the atmosphere on Mars was burned away, so they remade it. They could have done the same to earth after an explosion large enough to burn away the atmosphere destroys the Oceans.

im2randomghgh wrote:In Mechanicum, it mentions that the atmosphere on Mars was burned away, so they remade it. They could have done the same to earth after an explosion large enough to burn away the atmosphere destroys the Oceans.

It wasn't just one explosion it was thousands of them.

The better answer would be because Matt Ward is the Omni-God of WH40K and has the ability to ruin everything and anything he touches, including but not limited to the Earth.