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Last week I was working on something for wikipedia about the sources of 40k fluff but without sources it's just speculation and got nixed.

So does anyone know of interviews or articles with the creators of 40k talking about where they got their ideas, what they set out to do and why?

Or just a history of the development of the 40k universe from WD articles to RT and beyond?

so... guess not huh?

The Emperor started it all. No, seriously, I'd like to know more about the origins of the Emperor (what the writers were thinking about) since the few vague pieces of background material we have about him indicate that he existed for thousands of years before the creation of Space Marines and unified all the nations of Terra under one banner. I guess the same guys who first came up with the idea of 40K could come up with the answer and they're not very talkative it seems.

I would think some good info might come in WD back in the early days of RT (like issues 90-110) or perhaps the WD issues when they introduced the new editions (like 2nd or 3rd edition).

The problem is, of course, is that if they talked too much about their inspirations that could theoretically be considered a basis to nail them for IP infringement. Meaning, I'm guessing you won't see in print much about where Rick Priestly and crew came up with (stole) most of their ideas from.

Unfortunately, my WD collection starts just after RT's introduction (I have issue 100 and on), so I may have missed some great introduction article in WD 93-100.

well, its no secret that they borrowed in huge from Dune, and the Bible.

But Yakface is probably right, they wont talk about it due to copywright infringement, and its doubtful they will ever say:

"Yeah, Space Marines, you know the meat and potatoes of our game system, we totally stole the idea from the Sadukaur. The Imperium? yeah, that is from Dune as well. And the Emperor? Yeah, he is a combo of God and Jesus wrapped up in a super sexy suit of powered armor. Horus? Yeah he is Lucifer. Eldar, Squats and Orcs, well we took those from Tolkien in our first game, then copied ourselves for our second. What did we actually make up? Hmm, well the Tyrnaids were ours, but they got copied by Starcraft and we sued them for it."

although i suppose in all fairness, everything is influenced by something else, but GW did borrow pretty damn liberally.

If you say so. I don't see it.  Or more to the point, I don't see it done to the extent that would leave them legally vulnerable to anything.  Links to Dune are tenuous at best, aside from the fact thay hey, there's a God Emperor in Dune (save that he's actually only around in one book, and a great big worm thing at that), and Dune also has rockhard soldier dudes, none of which is exactly unique to Dune.

Posted By Reecius on 09/22/2006 2:44 PM
Hmm, well the Tyrnaids were ours, but they got copied by Starcraft and we sued them for it."

If by "ours," GW meant, "We basically stole them along with Space Marines from Heinlein's Starship Troopers, released decades before RT," then you're right.

Posted By Reecius on 09/22/2006 2:44 PM
Hmm, well the Tyrnaids were ours, but they got copied by Starcraft and we sued them for it."

LOL! Uh, GW definitely stole the 'nids from both Starship Troopers (the book written nearly 30 years before Warhammer:40,000 Rogue Trader) and the films "Alien" and "Aliens", both which came out before 40k. I mean, they weren't even shy about it in those days, just a few name changes here and there and viola: Genestealers!

What most people find so amusing is that here's a company that has so thoroughly pilfered any bit of popular culture and history it possibly can, right up to the very envelope of what they could probably get sued for, and yet someone so much as does anything similar and it's copyright infringement (and a pack of lawyers the RIAA would be proud of)... Demonblade anyone?

White Dwarf 300 had an article relating the history of the magazine -- and in the process, including a good deal of historical info on the history of Games Workshop generally.  Not a whole lot of 40K specific stuff there, but you might find a few nuggets.