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So there is a poll about what race has the "best" background, and I was astonished to see orks in the lead in the poll. While describing why I thought Space Marines had the best background I realized somthing.....

Having read history and fluff behind this game for over 14 years now, and with the constant addition of new material in the forms of Video Games, Codices, Novels, Fan fiction, and now even a movie, the poll made me realize that the fluff behind Warhammer 40k might just be the most complete science fiction universe available today.

Consider any other sci-fi setting and compare the amount of content to Warhammer 40,000. Nothing else really comes close.

does anyone know of any setting that has more depth than wh40k? Star Wars has a very full history, but the number of novels is about the same, and the movies are just recreations of events in the novels, so when you include history and fluff listed in the codices warhammer IMO comes out on top.

I guess it is really complete. Theres fiction of everything from the beginning, and since the period the game actually take place in is called the "Time of ending", apparently the end as well.

I agree. No other setting has as much depth as 40k.

I think its pretty cool, it gives another reason to induct friends into the game system.

Agreed,Warhammer 40k has a massive amount of background,if I was a multi-milionare I would pay GW to reprint every 40k book they published to this day.

Gwar! wrote:I agree. No other setting has as much depth as 40k.

Very true. Like a blackhole, it has managed to pull from everything else out there. It's like someone smashed Lord of the Rings together with Dune and played it in the key of Clockwork Orange and 1984. We could have a thread just following 40k images back to their sources. For example, Dark Age of Technology = Butlerian Jihad.

Assuming that we're limiting this to the Sci-Fi genre, don't forget Battletech has a huge amount of background as well. As far as the 'property' novels go, Loren L. Coleman's Threads of Ambition and The Killing Fields are some of the best I've read.

Warhammer 40,000 has the most in depth background ever! as proven by
This!
I mean this is just a map but it has more information than books!

Nope, nothing I know of even comes close to 40K.