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I heard all sorts of stories. Like where you are born dictates what you do.
Who your parents were means that you are fated to certain jobs.

But does one every get to choose what they want or say! Hey! I wanna be an inquisitor someday! *takes off for mars or Terra*
Or someone who is inducted into the guard becoming a commissar for some reason they wanted to be a imperial guard.

The Imperium of Man share similar qualites in terms of fate and not being able to change it similar to the Hindu Religion.
To be a Commissar it depends on your upbring.
To be a planertery govenier your have to be into power.
that is the main reason about why people turn to Chaos, because they reward you on your skills not inheritence like some people.

Well, in the IoM, circumstance is everything. But then again, that's true in a lot of way in real life too. Just... not quite as brutal. Usually.

If your a psyker, well, you'll either be picked up and shipped off to feed the throne, or if you're really, stupid lucky, you get to have your eyes burnt out and die young as an astropath. If you're even luckier than that, you get to be some sort of sanctioned psyker or inquisitiorial agent.

If you're born in the right place at the right time, and have the right genetic attributes, you might get dragged off to be made in to an Astartes. If you survive the process.

The most control you really get to have over your fate is deciding to join the Imperial Guard.

All that said, it isn't as if the other factions necessarily do a lot for you either. Orks basically are a function of what passes as genetics and living long enough to be the biggest and meanest. Tau aren't even allowed to breed outside their caste. And Chaos? Well, if you're obscenely powerful, sure. If you're not, there's a great chance you'll be a slave, and possibly, quite literally, building material.

The Eldar seem to have it best. They can wake up one morning and decide that they're going to be something new. Of course, this is mitigated by having your soul devoured by a dark god. Then again, you might get lucky and get shoved in the infinity circuit.

DrimGark wrote:Well, in the IoM, circumstance is everything. But then again, that's true in a lot of way in real life too. Just... not quite as brutal. Usually.

If your a psyker, well, you'll either be picked up and shipped off to feed the throne, or if you're really, stupid lucky, you get to have your eyes burnt out and die young as an astropath. If you're even luckier than that, you get to be some sort of sanctioned psyker or inquisitiorial agent.

If you're born in the right place at the right time, and have the right genetic attributes, you might get dragged off to be made in to an Astartes. If you survive the process.

The most control you really get to have over your fate is deciding to join the Imperial Guard.

All that said, it isn't as if the other factions necessarily do a lot for you either. Orks basically are a function of what passes as genetics and living long enough to be the biggest and meanest. Tau aren't even allowed to breed outside their caste. And Chaos? Well, if you're obscenely powerful, sure. If you're not, there's a great chance you'll be a slave, and possibly, quite literally, building material.

The Eldar seem to have it best. They can wake up one morning and decide that they're going to be something new. Of course, this is mitigated by having your soul devoured by a dark god. Then again, you might get lucky and get shoved in the infinity circuit.

^^^
probably the best way to describe it

Well, also you've had the chance to join Ecclesiarchy (though prospects of obtaining more than lowest rank is slim) - it's missionaries and SoBs who are mostly Schola products.

Also i bet that AM do not discriminate against recruiting commoners too...if they need new converts at time, 'cos else you'll had a chance to serve Machine God in some other way (where becoming Sciitarii is a reasonably luck).

And of course it's all highly depends on the world you're born on - i.e. feudal worlds surely had number of restrictions for peasants etc

LORD_PANTERA wrote:The Imperium of Man share similar qualites in terms of fate and not being able to change it similar to the Hindu Religion.

Sort of but more akin to Communist Russia - you work where you're told for the good of the Imperium.

LORD_PANTERA wrote:To be a Commissar it depends on your upbring.

Not quite. I believe the qualifying factor on joining the Commisseriat is that the child is an orphan whose parents who died fighting for the Imperium. They're taken away, at a very young age, to one of the Schola Progenium.

LORD_PANTERA wrote:To be a planertery govenier your have to be into power.

Not always the case, dependant upon the planet. For example you could have a planet that is essentially run secretly by the Inquisition, sort of an Illuminati type thing, but with a planetary Governor as a front for the citizens - last thing the Inquisition would want there would be for their puppet to have power. Also some planets may be run by a cabinet, power shared through several individuals. Others might be Governor in title alone but have no real power or authority, the planet being run by a 'civil service' type body who make all of the decisions. With a million worlds there is going to be a lot of variation.

LORD_PANTERA wrote:that is the main reason about why people turn to Chaos, because they reward you on your skills not inheritence like some people.

Too narrow a 'scope'. The Ruinous Powers are fickle in their dealings with mortals. Some, those they take an interest in, might recieve rewards based on what they do and how good they are at doing it, others might be placed into power just for a laugh to see what they do with that authority. Imperial Citizens turn to worshipping the great 'darkness' for many reasons - afterall what can be worse than working long shifts (equivilant to 18-20 of our hours) in a massive, dark factory filled with noise, heat, dirt, grease doing the same monotanous job over and over day after day? But when someone tells you there is a better option out there, your mind starts to think of the benefits for yourself... as in not working long days in horrible environments. Just as an example - the Imperium is so large, so diverse that there are any number of reasons for people to turn away from the Imperial Creed.

Within the Imperium there is very little choice, on the whole. Only select bodies, such as the Inquisition, truly have a free-hand to go and do as they wish, but for the most part people stay on their home planet or within the system and live out their life like everyone else, doing the job they're given, working hard and dying eventually. The lucky ones, you could say, are the Guardsmen, drawn from the Planetary Defence Force and thrown off to distant conflicts or garrison duty - I'd much rather be a Guardsman on garrison duty than working in the aforementioned example.

Sparks_Havelock wrote:

LORD_PANTERA wrote:The Imperium of Man share similar qualites in terms of fate and not being able to change it similar to the Hindu Religion.

Sort of but more akin to Communist Russia - you work where you're told for the good of the Imperium.

LORD_PANTERA wrote:To be a Commissar it depends on your upbring.

Not quite. I believe the qualifying factor on joining the Commisseriat is that the child is an orphan whose parents who died fighting for the Imperium. They're taken away, at a very young age, to one of the Schola Progenium.

LORD_PANTERA wrote:To be a planertery govenier your have to be into power.

Not always the case, dependant upon the planet. For example you could have a planet that is essentially run secretly by the Inquisition, sort of an Illuminati type thing, but with a planetary Governor as a front for the citizens - last thing the Inquisition would want there would be for their puppet to have power. Also some planets may be run by a cabinet, power shared through several individuals. Others might be Governor in title alone but have no real power or authority, the planet being run by a 'civil service' type body who make all of the decisions. With a million worlds there is going to be a lot of variation.

LORD_PANTERA wrote:that is the main reason about why people turn to Chaos, because they reward you on your skills not inheritence like some people.

Too narrow a 'scope'. The Ruinous Powers are fickle in their dealings with mortals. Some, those they take an interest in, might recieve rewards based on what they do and how good they are at doing it, others might be placed into power just for a laugh to see what they do with that authority. Imperial Citizens turn to worshipping the great 'darkness' for many reasons - afterall what can be worse than working long shifts (equivilant to 18-20 of our hours) in a massive, dark factory filled with noise, heat, dirt, grease doing the same monotanous job over and over day after day? But when someone tells you there is a better option out there, your mind starts to think of the benefits for yourself... as in not working long days in horrible environments. Just as an example - the Imperium is so large, so diverse that there are any number of reasons for people to turn away from the Imperial Creed.

Within the Imperium there is very little choice, on the whole. Only select bodies, such as the Inquisition, truly have a free-hand to go and do as they wish, but for the most part people stay on their home planet or within the system and live out their life like everyone else, doing the job they're given, working hard and dying eventually. The lucky ones, you could say, are the Guardsmen, drawn from the Planetary Defence Force and thrown off to distant conflicts or garrison duty - I'd much rather be a Guardsman on garrison duty than working in the aforementioned example.

And that sums up pretty much anything that pantera didn't get... I like this, quick and to the point

It's definitely not a free market meritocracy. I think for most people you're born into a job and that's just what you have to do, like in the middle ages. They don't have a whole lot of institutes of higher learning or social programs to help people up the income scale. You're born, you do your duty, if you step out of line you get thumped, THE END. People turn to chaos for the same reasons people used to try to do magic or make alliances with the devil in the middle ages - because they want power and there just wasn't any other way to get it.

Although like some people have been saying, the imperium is a big place and there's alot of variety. Well-governed worlds like Ultramar probably give more opportunity to their common citizens than toxic hell holes like Terra. IG regiments probably allow for some meritocratic promotion. Even in the middle ages, some people worked their way up. But you have to start with certain advantages. If you're a dirt farmer, your great grand children probably will be too.

It depends on the world. Not every planet is at the extreme end of the fluff.

Some worlds, yes, your role in society is caste based, depending on your birth.

A lot of civilised worlds have capitalist economies similar to our own, where you can to a large degree choose your job, and have a quality of life similar to or better than what developed nations have today.

On the other hand, it might not be that different than it is now.

You reach the age where you can be useful, you go down to Burger Emporer, fill out a form, take a drug test. Then they lop of your fore-arms, replace them with nerve linked spatulas, and give you a full frontal lobotomy.

DrimGark wrote:On the other hand, it might not be that different than it is now.

You reach the age where you can be useful, you go down to Burger Emporer, fill out a form, take a drug test. Then they lop of your fore-arms, replace them with nerve linked spatulas, and give you a full frontal lobotomy.

Pretty much... Except that you have a choice between Burger Emperor or Mc.Mechanicus' Auto-parts.

As mentioned a few times, it really depends on what planet you're from. On Agri-Worlds, your father was a farmer, his father before him was a farmer, and your great-grandfather was a farmer, and so forth and so on... you get to be a farmer. You might make it down to Anchor-head's once a year. Don't expect to ever leave the world.

On an Imperial World, your options are much more open, with being somewhat socially mobile and, for those who can swing it, technical training or other educational opportunities. The Ravenor novel mentions various artists and playwrights, as well as people with more mundane jobs.

Forge Worlds are highly regimented, with the AdMech placing you in whatever role you are needed in, regardless of your desires or views.

Didnt they say they had something Akin to Television?
So obviously they have actors,
It maybe be this, Big highly industrialized worlds may keep you donw but smaller ones may not be able to force it as much.