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Hello all,
A lot has been depicted in the dark grim future since I played 3rd edition and I'd like to see if you guys have websites or articles summing up the 40K lore ?
Information I found on the wikis etc are overwhelming for a noob

thanks

There’s a few youtubers around that have made lore sunmary videos for the various factions. Usually they have some mistakes, poor assumptions and not great source quoting. That said they are commonly a good way to get an overall grip on things. My personal favorite is “if the Enperor had a text to speach device”. It’s incredibly slow to update but still. Also it’s far from perfect canon wise but a lot of fun. Here’s two videos that explain the timeline of 40k from the dawn of time untill today:



And here’s a s short silly one that takes 1 minute to watch and explains the Horus Heresy:


Edit: Jump to 10:32 on the first video for the lore summary to start.

Eugh, I dislike any form of Warhammer youtube but 'lore' videos have to be the lowest form of art in that regard! They just read an article off Lexicanium

There is usually a good bit of background and scene setting in the BRB and I don't expect 9th edition to be any different.

 Kroem wrote:
Eugh, I dislike any form of Warhammer youtube but 'lore' videos have to be the lowest form of art in that regard! They just read an article off Lexicanium

There is usually a good bit of background and scene setting in the BRB and I don't expect 9th edition to be any different.

See, I kind of like them- Arch Warhammer and Luetin are quite therapeutic when you're cleaning or decorating (and I've been doing a LOT of that since lockdown started!)

40K Theories on YouTube can be good to listen to, and while it's mostly 'what ifs', there is also quite a bit of lore introduction specifically for newcomers.

 Skinflint Games wrote:

See, I kind of like them- Arch Warhammer and Luetin are quite therapeutic when you're cleaning or decorating (and I've been doing a LOT of that since lockdown started!)

Please don't recommend Arch-Warhammer to people, he is a massive racist, I'll link to reddit page showing what he says in his youtube discord channel so people can see for yourselves if that's allowed. There are plenty of 40k lore youtubers to watch who don't promote hate speech. https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/gxn558/crosspost_from_another_community_i_think_its/

In regards to the OP's question, if you want a general gist of the lore youtubers and Lexcicanum are good ways to get to know that stuff, though to get a more detailed picture of what each faction is about I'd recommend getting hold of copies of older edition codexes, especially from 3rd 5th edition as those had short stories in them that gave you a nice idea of how those factions spoke and acted.

YouTube videos and Lexicanum will often have non canon theories and info in them that are put across as fact with no sources provided so you can't beat the books themselves for accurate lore if that's what you end up looking for.

Lord Aureus wrote:
YouTube videos and Lexicanum will often have non canon theories and info in them that are put across as fact with no sources provided so you can't beat the books themselves for accurate lore if that's what you end up looking for.

Lexicanum should only contain canon material and list the sources.

beast_gts wrote:

Lexicanum should only contain canon material and list the sources.

It had been a while since I've last been on it, and looking at it now it seems a lot better than it was.

However I will say it seems to be still suffering some of the problems it had with people writing on it. Looking at the main Ork page for example, the Ork weapon use belief theory is written as a definite fact and the only source for it is two pages from a Beast Arises novel that actually contradicts the belief theory as it deals with a dead Ork. Also it has no mention of the multiple examples we have of humans and Space Marines using Ork weapons and vehicles.

So while Lexicanum might only link to official sources, what's written in the articles sometimes (though rarely) doesn't represent what those sources say.

Lexicanum is a brilliant thing to have that is overall very accurate, it's where I read most of the lore when I first started with 40k, however with what I know now I wouldn't fully rely on it for precise details though.

Quite enjoyed some of those emperor text to speech videos, thanks! However I thought it a bit weird that a show that started off totally tongue in cheek ended up going patreon, with increased production value, and lost its edge in the process.. anyhoo, nice find.

Lord Aureus wrote:

 Skinflint Games wrote:

See, I kind of like them- Arch Warhammer and Luetin are quite therapeutic when you're cleaning or decorating (and I've been doing a LOT of that since lockdown started!)

Please don't recommend Arch-Warhammer to people, he is a massive racist, I'll link to reddit page showing what he says in his youtube discord channel so people can see for yourselves if that's allowed. There are plenty of 40k lore youtubers to watch who don't promote hate speech. https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/gxn558/crosspost_from_another_community_i_think_its/

/quote]

Oh, gak

Lord Aureus wrote:

 Skinflint Games wrote:

See, I kind of like them- Arch Warhammer and Luetin are quite therapeutic when you're cleaning or decorating (and I've been doing a LOT of that since lockdown started!)

Please don't recommend Arch-Warhammer to people, he is a massive racist, I'll link to reddit page showing what he says in his youtube discord channel so people can see for yourselves if that's allowed. There are plenty of 40k lore youtubers to watch who don't promote hate speech. https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/gxn558/crosspost_from_another_community_i_think_its/
.

massive racist is understating it, from those posts the guys an outright neo-Nazi

Yeah, there's definitely some 40k lore youtubers who only read off a wiki, others who go more in depth, and at least one who's a massive neo-Nazi who I would implore to just avoid at all costs.

40k Theories and Luetin are hard to go wrong with, and TTS helps in the very basic picture of things, but it's just important to know what parts they're saying are actually canon, or just their interpretation.

The great thing about 40k?

Everything is at once canon, and non-canon.

I’ve recently been indulging in Rogue Trader era books. For the most part, surprisingly little has changed over the 33 or so years. About the main thing has been Marines being redefined as super-human, and not just highly trained. Oh, and Dreadnoughts having pilots which became addicted to the experience.

Yes, there’s stuff in there such as the Starchild, Sensei and Illuminati which hasn’t really been mentioned since - but lack of mention does not mean removed from canon.

Why? Because 40k’s background is all about absolute ignorance and colossal amounts of beuraucracy. Even the vaunted Eldar couch the history in myth and legend, with tales open to interpretation.

We’re also discussing truly colossal time periods. By in- universe standards, the Imperium is actually pretty young at a mere 10,000 or so. And that is still far, far long than recorded history here on Earth. Eldar? Mind bogglingly ancient. Necrons even more so (and there’s an argument none of them are even remotely sane anymore).

There are so many fun little bits of information floating around which are only ‘true’ because the in-universe writer has determined them to be so. It’s all based on the unreliable narrator, and massive amounts of guess work.

Consider the Imperium, and it’s citizens. If you’re a worker on a Hive or Forge World, your entire life is short, miserable, and limited. You’re very unlikely to have even the most basic of educations, beyond how to do your job. You quite likely will never see more than your work station and rest station. You don’t know what an Ork is. The Imperial Guard are a distant fantasy, and Space Marines the merest of myths.

This is precisely why background conversations are so bloody interesting. Books and novels contradict each other. That doesn’t mean one is flawed. It could be both are entirely wrong - and both are correct, in their own way.

Indeed, the only fan fiction I turn my nose up at is stuff which claims really, really bizarre stuff (like it’s not The Emperor guiding things, but a shadowy Xenos race of the writer’s own invention), that invalidates whole swathes of ‘what-ifs’ etc, or otherwise insists on inflicting absolutes.

tauist wrote:
Quite enjoyed some of those emperor text to speech videos, thanks! However I thought it a bit weird that a show that started off totally tongue in cheek ended up going patreon, with increased production value, and lost its edge in the process.. anyhoo, nice find.

I agree with this. I feel the premise of the Emperor just sitting around and talking about stuff with his custodes and some other side characters whas quite enjoyable. It then kind of spiralled out of control into all sorts of directions. I'm really not sure why. I feel it got far less intresting the more stuff that was involved. That said it's never been high quality entertainment by any stretch of the imagination. I still keep it as a personal favorite though and something of a guilty pleasure.

 Nerak wrote:

tauist wrote:
Quite enjoyed some of those emperor text to speech videos, thanks! However I thought it a bit weird that a show that started off totally tongue in cheek ended up going patreon, with increased production value, and lost its edge in the process.. anyhoo, nice find.

I agree with this. I feel the premise of the Emperor just sitting around and talking about stuff with his custodes and some other side characters whas quite enjoyable. It then kind of spiralled out of control into all sorts of directions. I'm really not sure why. I feel it got far less intresting the more stuff that was involved. That said it's never been high quality entertainment by any stretch of the imagination. I still keep it as a personal favorite though and something of a guilty pleasure.

I'd say the "Emperor being snarky about stuff" formula can only go so far before it gets boring. They had to add something else eventually.

 Skinflint Games wrote:

 Kroem wrote:
Eugh, I dislike any form of Warhammer youtube but 'lore' videos have to be the lowest form of art in that regard! They just read an article off Lexicanium

There is usually a good bit of background and scene setting in the BRB and I don't expect 9th edition to be any different.

See, I kind of like them- Arch Warhammer and Luetin are quite therapeutic when you're cleaning or decorating (and I've been doing a LOT of that since lockdown started!)

I've always liked Arch Warhammer and Luetin to be honest. I usually put up a playlist of their content when I'm set for a long drive.
Though I do have to point out that Arch covers broader material, especially when it comes to Warhammer fantasy and earlier edition content.

I've started revisiting his Warhammer total war videos on the multiple factions and other associated fluff.

Watch Luetin09's lore videos. Do not have any lowly prejudice towards them: They are definitely not read from some wiki page. All other lore channels can be ignored since they don't have anything near the same production quality and research put into them.

TTS parody can also be recommended for laughter and some surprisingly well-handled background treatment for being a mere silly parody.

Otherwise, here is the short-short skirt version of Warhammer 40'000 background:

"Stop making the galaxy into a horrible place!"

"No."