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I always thought writing for and explaining the background for 40K would have been easier if the timeframes were reduced by an order of magnitude. Anyone else sometimes feel 4000 years would have been plenty? I think a couple of thousand years is a very respectable length of time for humans to build up, colonise, wreck everything, and commit genocide on anything with slightly different shaped ears.
I think the creator of 40k must have been influenced by stuff like Lord of the Rings and the Dune books. Big timeframes and he went even bigger.

With their current, more serious tone I actually agree. 100 year time skips even is a big deal. But at the same time, what other setting takes place 40,000 years in the future?

IIRC, it was originally going to be warhammer 4000. Someone with clout told them to add the extra zero to turn it up to 11.

It's such a preposterous scale of time that it passes near future, advanced future, scifi utopia, scifi dystopia and rockets off into the distance so that the present is an unremembered age of myth- as are all the pre-imperial human societies.

It enables the both the kind of ignorance and technology level that fuels 40k, allowing them to play with ancient themes and superscience and keeping suspension of disbelief.

being kind of rediculas and over the top is basicly the intent. remember there's a strong undercurrent of satire baked into 40ks DNA,

 =Angel= wrote:
IIRC, it was originally going to be warhammer 4000. Someone with clout told them to add the extra zero to turn it up to 11.

It's such a preposterous scale of time that it passes near future, advanced future, scifi utopia, scifi dystopia and rockets off into the distance so that the present is an unremembered age of myth- as are all the pre-imperial human societies.

It enables the both the kind of ignorance and technology level that fuels 40k, allowing them to play with ancient themes and superscience and keeping suspension of disbelief.

Pretty much this.

38,000 years into the future is a long, long time. I mean, most of man's most significant advancements, including turning to farming over hunter gatherer? 7,000 - 10,000 years ago, according to a cursory Google.

The impact that had (greater food, correspondingly longer life spans, more experience, better teaching of the young etc) lead to today's near exponential growth (which essentially start with the telegraph, a way to transmit information, albeit quite limited in nature, over vast distances) thanks to near instantaneous communication potential.

I mean, people sharing a scientific project can now live anywhere in the world. If I wanted to, I could record an empassioned speech, and whack it up on YouTube for all the world (barring China) to see, near instantly.

With 40k being rooted in decay? You need that timescale to explain just how advanced man became, why it all fell apart. The fact that The Emperor's plan to regain those heights came to nought, and stranded our species in deliberate, enforced ignorance is the whole schtick of 40k.

BrianDavion wrote:
being kind of rediculas and over the top is basicly the intent. remember there's a strong undercurrent of satire baked into 40ks DNA,

That's a silly statement. There's nothing satirical about characters like Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau.

The 40k might also be a lie or a best guess, as given the big E's drive against all faiths its not clear where its measured from (as even today the 'year' varies from 1500 to 6000(ish)

that along with multiple dark ages, alien occupation and being engulfed in warp storms furthers that

but mostly its for the excess grim darks

pm713 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
being kind of rediculas and over the top is basicly the intent. remember there's a strong undercurrent of satire baked into 40ks DNA,

That's a silly statement. There's nothing satirical about characters like Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau.

ohh yeah I mean THAT character is totally serious. the most serious of serious characters ever made in the history of seriousness!

BrianDavion wrote:

pm713 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
being kind of rediculas and over the top is basicly the intent. remember there's a strong undercurrent of satire baked into 40ks DNA,

That's a silly statement. There's nothing satirical about characters like Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau.

ohh yeah I mean THAT character is totally serious. the most serious of serious characters ever made in the history of seriousness!

You know, this makes me wonder what you would actually get when you mix a super competent detective and a super incompetent one...

 Tiennos wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

pm713 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
being kind of rediculas and over the top is basicly the intent. remember there's a strong undercurrent of satire baked into 40ks DNA,

That's a silly statement. There's nothing satirical about characters like Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau.

ohh yeah I mean THAT character is totally serious. the most serious of serious characters ever made in the history of seriousness!

You know, this makes me wonder what you would actually get when you mix a super competent detective and a super incompetent one...

Hong Kong Phooey?

I think the temptation to inflate numbers to overly high levels is present outside fantasy, did Frieza's power level need to be one billion? No but it mkaes it sound pretty ginormous!
I'm sure there's a bit in Austin Powers about it too

I always thought that the absurd distance in the future was a way of saying that every.scifi setting out there can fit into the 40k back ground.

That is the galaxy has seen a firefly phase, a "star trek" phase, a star wars phase, a 2000AD phase, etc...