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I'm starting up a Rogue Trader campaign. It's a lovely game, but I have several players who are not familiar with the Warhammer universe.

I'm curious if anything like this exists - a nice, to-the-point summary of the setting and core concepts.

And , if it doesn't - help me make one! What concepts are most critical to the setting?

"It is the 41st Millennium. For more then a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.

Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest among his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arm are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present from aliens, heretics, mutants-and worse.

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruellest and bloodiest regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim, dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the thirsting of laughing gods."

Cliche, but this is what sold me on the setting, when my older relative lent me the Heroes of the Space Marines book. Personally, I think this is 40K, and I'm sad it isn't in the newer books and codices.

However, is that what you're asking for?

So before anything else is said, keep in mind that this is a Rogue Trader campaign. The whole, "In the grimdarkness...only war!" line isn't going to cut it. Unless they're playing Arch-millitants, Astropaths, or Void Masters, there's a good chance they've lived a privileged life of luxury. The view of the galaxy for a Rogue Trader and his crew are arguably further away from the "traditional" view of 40k than any other in the setting.

That said, there is a 40k primer PDF that was put together for Dark Heresy games that covers the core principles in decent detail. It's not one page, but if you cut out the history portion, which the player's characters wouldn't know anyway, then I think it gets down to four pages.

Edit: okay so it's a bit longer. But some of the Inquisition stuff could be cut out also.
http://www.darkreign.org/downloads/11-05-2013/imperial-primer-dark-heresy-sourcebook

I couldn't resist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MeVxKZBOfM

BG, you earned an exalt sticker!