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Really? It just seems so futile considering the amount of forces one system nay a single planet can bring to bear, VS the largest cohesive fighting force in the Galaxy. Could you imagine as a rebel trooper siting on your planet watching as the Universe it'self rips open in a warp portal as Battleships and Cruisers larger than cities, and moons come out of it?

The never ending waves of tanks and men? The practically demigods of the Astartes? The fleets so vast as to me immeasurable?

Lot's of alcohol my friend. Lot's of alcohol.

Chaos has a bit to do with it. Just them whispering "Hey, lets do something crazy today." in a person's ear.

They get stupid.

Read Rebel Winter. It provides some good reasons why a planet would rebel against the Imperium.

Sometimes it works.

Yeah, until the administationum finds the lost report after only a brief 500year misplacement. Then a couple if regiments are sent to reclaim it.

1.) Rage from the oppression. It makes you do crazy things.
2.) Nothing to lose
3.) Lack of understanding of just how vast the Imperium is
4.) Outside influences like Chaos.

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:Yeah, until the administationum finds the lost report after only a brief 500year misplacement. Then a couple if regiments are sent to reclaim it.

That's longer the USA has existed.

Harriticus wrote:3.) Lack of understanding of just how vast the Imperium is

I was going to bring this up. It's possible there are planets where the people don't even realise they're part of the Imperium of Man, and think the universe ends at the sky.

nomotog wrote:

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:Yeah, until the administationum finds the lost report after only a brief 500year misplacement. Then a couple if regiments are sent to reclaim it.

That's longer the USA has existed.

Yeah long time for us. Not so much for the IoM.

I think the life of a Guardsmen etc reflects real life for 40k


After awhile you just get fed up playing marine vs marine your whole life and start too see the benefits of playing a xenos race.... They are different and have quirks.... just like the lure of chaos has on guardsmen or the greater good has on fringe colonies close to Tau etc....

When you go to a tournament and its 90% marines... hang your head in shape and start thinking xenos.....

they should call this game Space Marine 40 000 Chapters.... At least then it would reflect real life =]

Well, if you are governed by a government you have never seen or had a representative from it is easy to get the notion that, perhaps, they aren't too interested in your planet anymore. This naturally leads to the thought of, "Well, if they aren't going to govern us, I guess we should do it ourselves." This thought then leads to Exterminatus. I think we can all learn something from this: don't assume that just because someone hasn't kicked the crap out of you and taken your resources (or lunch money) for a while that it means they aren't interested in doing it again.

The imperium is vast and it's authority is not omnipresent. When the cat is away the mice will play. I'm sure it's very tempting for Governors to rebel, they do all the work and besides some token representation many planets only hear from the imperium every few thousand years. A good question is why they don't rebel more often. Look at Russia, there are parts of Russia right now that are so remote they don't even need to openly rebel, they just completely ignore the government.

And its hard to tell the difference between a rebel planet and a loyal planet, seeing as how they only have to follow 3 rules.

Venerate the Emperor.
Control your psykers
Maintain your tithes.

Because they are often mislead, and Chaos usually has some of it's dirty and corrupt fingers involved...

The notable example is Vraks, people rebelled because cardinal said so. As he is the Saint in their eyes, a holy figure, they all followed him into the rebellion. Other are alien influences, like Taros. Where corrupt planetary elite is more concerned with themselves then the grater good of all Mankind. And many other examples like Chaos or simple mislead be planetary leaders. And like Harriticus said many don't know how Imperium is really big, some don't believe in that information ( like Tau ), but the truth is that even the Imperium don't know hos own borders...

That's also assuming that people always make rational decisions, and as slammin salmon teaches

"when you assume you make an donkey-cave out of yourself"

After several years or decades of Manafactorum shifts, I'd be pretty keen to grab a lasgun and stick two fingers in the Emperor's general direction... although I'd probably be found somewhere near the back when any actual fighting broke out .

Sturmtruppen wrote:

Harriticus wrote:3.) Lack of understanding of just how vast the Imperium is

I was going to bring this up. It's possible there are planets where the people don't even realise they're part of the Imperium of Man, and think the universe ends at the sky.

This is probably one of the most important factors. The Imperium doesn't really have a good public education system, so most people probably will know that there's "a couple" other planets out there, but not how many, or how many armies they could send. For many worlds, the only sign of Imperial might is the local Arbites precinct, a couple Ecclesiarchy Preachers and some Navy frigate or a Black Ship that drops by every few years.

Another factor is probably that some people just get delusional, especially on worlds that have a Chaos cult or where the nobility is so arrogant that they think themselves over the law. Or the other extreme, that people have been so oppressed that they just don't care anymore.

In the end, our own real world offers sufficient examples for miniscule nations picking fights with much larger countries, or civilians rebelling against the government despite the fact that the latter has an army.

Because sometimes the Imperium seems very, very far away due to its vast size.

Melissia wrote:Because sometimes the Imperium seems very, very far away due to its vast size.

In fact, some rebellions go unnoticed for centuries due to it's size, and the fact that the Administratum are the worst bureaucrats ever.

Yea they rebel because the symbols of imperial power are very weak on their planet, and they assume they won't care which can seem acurate when it can take a really long time for them to notice. Once they notice you are f'd in the a. which is why the IoM has a million worlds in it at the end of the day

If you can hold off the initial fighting forces, you go on the 'to conquer' list. Along with EVERY OTHER PLANET IN THE GALAXY not currently under the dominion of the IoM.

Now, you might be a bit of a priority, since there could be a concern of you being used as an example for others. But the Imperium has a lot of galaxy to conquer.

The Imperium can be a pretty abstract concept to a minor world that doesn't rate regular visits from Imperial representatives and which doesn't have a regular Imperial garrison. PDF forces remember are drawn from the local population. The benefits of being part of the Imperium may also seem vague or non-existent especially when all the Imperium seems to do is show up every generation or so to take its dues. Watching the fruits of one's hard work or one's children disappear off world, never to return, for no perceivable benefit can breed resentment. Locals and even Imperial governors may think they might be better off ruling themselves and looking after themselves first.

From the perspective of a rebel on a planet that throws off Imperial rule or perhaps even survives the initial 1st wave Imperial response, they may think they have won for good. They may even have won for the rest of their lifetime as the next Imperial response may be centuries down the line or perhaps consigned to an even more nebulous future time.

The Imperium would not publicize news of any successful rebellions. Any rebellions would likely be potrayed as "We are containing it and making progress" to a more extreme erasure of records: "I don't know what planet you are talking about. There is no record of such a planet ever existing." The Imperium likes to portray itself as a monolithic block but in reality it is a network of systems in the vast void of space. In between the sectors of Imperial rule are swathes of wilderness space where there can be minor alien empires or other non-Imperial human societies. If a group of worlds rebels or Imperial rule collapses, a sub-sector or sector might be re-designated as wilderness space, like what happened to the Jericho Sector in Fantasy Flight Games' Deathwatch RPG setting.

Because the Imperium is like an unfaithful/flirty girlfriend, it doesn't pay attention to you unless you try to leave it....and then it WON'T be happy...

Generations pass with no contact. The people of the planet assume the legends of the Imperium are hokum, and refuse to pay their taxes. Simple, really.

They rebel like all rebellions.

To be alive while being oppressed for the rest of their lives,

or make a final stand for change.

Because living in the Imperium sucks.

Void__Dragon wrote:Because living in 40k sucks.

Fixed.

World Eaters and Orks appear to be having a good time.