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Outside of Daemons, Orks, and Tyranids, it seems to me every faction could or would have transgender folks.

Mechanicus is a relatively obvious case, as (to my knowledge) a lot of the Tech Priests shown in recent stories have been non-binary, but most were presumably AMAB or AFAB.
Eldar, given what I know, seem like they'd be pretty good at handling dysphoria. Dark Eldar have insanely good body engineering-no reason a properly rich Kabalite or such couldn't get their Haemonculus to make their next body a different gender. Craftworld Eldar I'm less sure of, but given their predilection to stick together, social transitioning seems like it'd be easy.
Space Marines probably repress the ever-loving hell out of those feelings, if they experience them, since they're a boys-only club.
Chaos Marines, on the other hand, seem much more likely to not give a crap. Lord Malcon changes his name and pronouns to Lady Malsin and she/her? Respect her or die, as always.
Genestealer Cults, as Tyranid-adjacent, are probably too focused on the Cult to care.
Necrons, at levels where they have actual sentience and not just rote functions, should be able to change their appearance without too much trouble, and the ones that have enough brains to care would also be ranked highly enough that, similar to CSM, you respect their changes or else bad things will happen.
Votann, I'm not clear enough on their lore to really say how they'd handle it.
Tau... I'm not totally sure how they'd handle it. I'd imagine that they'd probably be fine with a social transition, but might view medical transitioning as wasteful.
And the Imperium writ-large, with obvious variance from planet-to-planet, would probably be accessible to nobles and rich folk. A powerful Rogue Trader who transitions would easily have access to modifications to their appropriate gender, but Joe Schmoe factory worker who's really Jane Schmoe? Yeah, good luck getting decent living conditions, let alone access to proper medical care. Whether or not social transitioning would happen would depend on the specifics of their culture.
Custodes I can't see caring-they're even more modified than Space Marines, and I'd have to assume that petty things like "Their own personal needs" give way to furthering the Emperor's goals.
Sisters might be the most interesting case-would they accept someone who's an AFAB male? Or would they prefer an AMAB female? I don't think there'd be consensus on this, of course, but it could be an interesting point to explore.

James Swallow (BL Author) recently posted this on Twitter:

Hi! The referenced scene is from my Sisters of Battle story "Iron & Bone" not my novel "Faith & Fire"; Telfer (the pilot) is telling Verity (Sister Hospitaller & war hero) about his friend (a regular Imperial citizen) who took the same name after they underwent gender transition.

And the scene in question:

 JNAProductions wrote:
Mechanicus is a relatively obvious case, as (to my knowledge) a lot of the Tech Priests shown in recent stories have been non-binary, but most were presumably AMAB or AFAB.

A non-binary Tech Priest. There's got to be a joke in there somewhere...

 JNAProductions wrote:
And the Imperium writ-large, with obvious variance from planet-to-planet, would probably be accessible to nobles and rich folk. A powerful Rogue Trader who transitions would easily have access to modifications to their appropriate gender, but Joe Schmoe factory worker who's really Jane Schmoe? Yeah, good luck getting decent living conditions, let alone access to proper medical care. Whether or not social transitioning would happen would depend on the specifics of their culture.

I agree. On some planets I imagine someone transgender would barely be noticed, whereas on other planets they would be burned at the stake. I imagine the Imperial central authority (as much as there is such a thing) doesn't care either way about such matters, as long as the planet in question keeps paying their tithe they can impose whatever rules they want on their populace.

For example if someone transgender were to be enlisted into the Imperial Guard I doubt the average Colonel / Commissar / whatever would care, as long as that person could carry a lasgun.

Huh. Did not know that, Beast.
Thanks a ton for sharing!

ok bare with me, no there would be no trans people if the tech is so advanced one could literally turn a male into a female, trans is a 3rd state of being one and either identifying as the other or engaging in an operation to have the outward features (until our technology can achieve otherwise) of what society deems as a "woman" or "man"

given the level of technology to change beings at the genetic level in most societies in 40k the concept of "trans" simply would not exist as we know it if we are thinking consistently in the universe, it would as mundane as someone having a haircut.

which when you think about it is really the ultimate goal of the acceptance movement, so normal its not even thought about.

I’d argue, respectfully (and genuinely so) that a Tech-Priest may be more post-gender. As in, they’ve become so far removed from the flesh and the human experience, sex and gender have lost any and all meaning to them.

But I’ve also idly speculated before whether a Tech-Priest may transfer their consciousness (as we know is possible, at least for Cawl) into a different body, if only for curiosity if doing so might generate new insight and revelation.

I do however agree there’s no evidence that The Imperium as a whole especially cares about such things. The main concern is your loyalty to Terra, and everyone does their part to ensure Tithes are met and the Imperium is defended.

Certainly as abjectly awful as The Imperium is? So long as you do what is expected/demanded, nobody is going to bother over such trivial things.

Iirc, there's a tidbit of old lore about how men on the path of the howling banshee are considered to be women or at least to have "feminine spirits" or something while actively doing banshee things because the totem they're embodying (banshees) are inherently feminine spirits. So that's a neat beat of gender exploration for craftworlders.

We get a scene in Path of the Outcast where a newbie ranger is sort of shocked to find out that his girlfriend (a more senior ranger) used to have talons instead of fingers for a while because she went to a non-haemonclus fleshwarper to have some body mods done. So it seems like body mods aren't unheard of among craftworlders, but they might have a slight taboo similar to someone getting a tattoo. Presumably, the technology exists for craftworlders to physically transition without requiring a visit to Commorragh.

Also interesting, we know that eldar twins start as a single shared soul that slowly separates out into two distinct souls over time. We see this first-hand with fraternal (male and female) twins in Valedor. They use masculine and feminine pronouns respectively. So the implication is that either souls are unrelated to gender for eldar, or else eldar souls have the capacity to change gender over time.

We know that male wych cult members have limited advancement opportunities compared to female wyches. So while physically transitioning should absolutely be something haemonculi can help you with, presumably there's some sort of financial, cultural, or spiritual reason not to do so?

At least one of the necron novels suggests that the bodies of necorns with relativley free will morphed during the great sleep to reflect their owners' personalities/true natures. So you could potentially have a kind of heart-warming story where an overlord wakes up to find that she's in a more feminine body; albeit in a mechanical artistic suggestion of femininity sort of way.

GSC probably don't care about gender, although I imagine they do care about sex as part of their MO is to pump out more bodies for the cult and get those purestrains ready to go. Could get some really nightmarish disphoria moments for a trans man cultist that is expected to give birth.

Tau: I'm not entirely sure how strong the concept of gender is for them. They have gendered pronouns, but their society seems to be extremely egalitarian between the sexes. I imagine that, if trans tau exist, it would mostly come down to body dismorphia. Which, if it's significant enough to impact their ability to serve the greater good, would probably be treated as a physical condition that could be addressed by the earth caste through surgery or hormones or what have you.

Come to think of it, offering transition services to trans former-imperials would probably be a pretty huge tool for turning humans into gue'la.

Mechanicus: There's a throw-away joke about a techpriest having swapped out his genitalia for some sort of tech gadget in a Rogue Trader short story, so in that character's case, at least, there doesn't seem to be much importance placed on keeping rude bits. Some tech priests do utilize gendered pronouns/titles, so presumably at least some of them place a non-zero value on gender. But maybe not much emphasis on sex given that they're all aspiring to replace as much meat with metal as possible.

I feel like marines are in this weird place where "marine" is almost its own gender. One that just happens to be hyper-masculine in presentation. Marines in general don't seem to spend a ton of time engaged in activities that don't directly or indirectly contribute to either glorifying their chapter or honing their combat ability. I could see a trans marine basically just never realizing they're trans or spending much time thinking about it as they're too busy thinking about killing xenos to ponder the nature of their identities.

It seems like the marine-ification process *might* help prevent/numb dismorphia? Like, for all the super powers that come with it, a going from being a scrawny little teen to a hulked out giant with ports protruding from his skin seems like it might be kind of horrific? Maybe the lack of, "What did you do to me?!" reactions indicates that the brainwashing helps astartes not to dwell on such things.

I don't imagine marines, loyalist or otherwise, would particularly care about gender *except* that gendered pronouns are such a prevalent part of a battle brother's vocabulary. I could see marines feeling uncomfortable referring to their comrade as "sister" but be unbothered if brother Reginald wants to be known henceforth as brother Regina.


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 Formosa wrote:
ok bare with me, no there would be no trans people if the tech is so advanced one could literally turn a male into a female, trans is a 3rd state of being one and either identifying as the other or engaging in an operation to have the outward features (until our technology can achieve otherwise) of what society deems as a "woman" or "man"

given the level of technology to change beings at the genetic level in most societies in 40k the concept of "trans" simply would not exist as we know it if we are thinking consistently in the universe, it would as mundane as someone having a haircut.

which when you think about it is really the ultimate goal of the acceptance movement, so normal its not even thought about.

I'm not sure I follow you here. A trans person having access to really good tech for physically transitioning wouldn't cause them to stop being trans. It's just that your trans-ness wouldn't a big deal socially. It would be one of those casual, "Oh yeah. I had to see a doctor about that once in my youth," type situations.

I think you and I basically agree on the point you're going for, but I don't think I've ever heard of a trans person considering "trans" to be a third sex/gender or anything. Trans men are men. Trans women are women. Good tech and reduced social stigma just mean that you don't have to think about being trans once you've undergone gender-affirming treatment. In 40k terms, you can have both the Trans and Man keywords. They aren't mutually exclusive.

 Formosa wrote:
ok bare with me, no there would be no trans people if the tech is so advanced one could literally turn a male into a female, trans is a 3rd state of being one and either identifying as the other or engaging in an operation to have the outward features (until our technology can achieve otherwise) of what society deems as a "woman" or "man"

given the level of technology to change beings at the genetic level in most societies in 40k the concept of "trans" simply would not exist as we know it if we are thinking consistently in the universe, it would as mundane as someone having a haircut.

which when you think about it is really the ultimate goal of the acceptance movement, so normal its not even thought about.

I think it's fair to say that there will be a lot of people in the 40K Universe that don't know that this technology exists. Those living on a feudal planet would be an extreme example, though not the only example. There'll be even more people who know that the technology exists but aren't able to access it, due to not being rich enough to do so.

In light of this I think the question is still valid. If we were talking about a society like The Culture in Iain M Banks' novels I would agree that it's a moot point. In the Imperium though things are not so straightforward.

Slightly OT - There's a male tech-priest in Forges of Mars who clones himself, and is surprised when the clone turns out female.

beast_gts wrote:
Slightly OT - There's a male tech-priest in Forges of Mars who clones himself, and is surprised when the clone turns out female.

I mean, unless specifically altered, you'd expect clones to be the same.
So I get the confusion.

For the Mad Doc, I will agree-enby might technically be accurate for a Tech Priest, but that's less a statement of gender and more of a complete lack of caring about it.

beast_gts wrote:
Slightly OT - There's a male tech-priest in Forges of Mars who clones himself, and is surprised when the clone turns out female.

How does that even work? Did someone clone-cuck him?

That's an interesting question. Since your sex happens when you're a zygote right? There's a point where you are neither male or female, both are options.

So in theory if you're cloned you're taking genetic data and building it from that point, meaning it again, could come out as male or female. Additionally, if there is different environmental factors it's quite possible a clone could be very different to the genetic doner.

Sadly I do think the imperium would be pretty transphobic, or phobic of anything that isn't the basics of survival. Individual identity seems to be pretty heavily discouraged. Being unhappy with your lot in life is sort of the standard. Maybe at the higher levels of human society? But even they seem to live in constant states of having to appear within a very narrow range of "acceptable" for their piers.

The rule I follow is the Imperium doesn't care enough to be trans/homophobic. But it also doesn't care enough not to be.

Individual worlds' views can run the gamut in any direction, but the Imperium isn't going to come in and do something about it just because a particular local population is being oppressed or scapegoated.

As for techpriests , I would say that while ascension beyond gender might be a goal, most followers of the Machine Cult are nowhere near the level of mechanization where I see them dropping it entirely.

cody.d. wrote:
That's an interesting question. Since your sex happens when you're a zygote right? There's a point where you are neither male or female, both are options.

No, it happens when your chromosomes are mashed together from sperm and egg. If the sperm is carrying a Y chromosome you are male, if X you are female. You can later on have the developing child have something go wrong and have the wrong sex organs develop for the chromosome combination, but it's not normal for that to occur and the person is usually sterile and can have a lot of other issues.

Normal cloning would just involve putting your own complete chromosomes into an egg with its own DNA removed, and since it now has a complete set it begins to develop.

Now in theory you could make a female clone of a male doner by stitching two copies of a male doner's X chromosome but it would have to be deliberately done. Maybe the machinery the tech priest was using had that as an option, but he was unaware of the full capabilities of the machine, and accidentally did that.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

jareddm wrote:
The rule I follow is the Imperium doesn't care enough to be trans/homophobic. But it also doesn't care enough not to be.

Indeed. They're not going to care. They certainly won't provide any accommodation for it either. But if you want to pay for it and live that way then nobody will stop you.

 Grey Templar wrote:

cody.d. wrote:
That's an interesting question. Since your sex happens when you're a zygote right? There's a point where you are neither male or female, both are options.

No, it happens when your chromosomes are mashed together from sperm and egg. If the sperm is carrying a Y chromosome you are male, if X you are female. You can later on have the developing child have something go wrong and have the wrong sex organs develop for the chromosome combination, but it's not normal for that to occur and the person is usually sterile and can have a lot of other issues.

Normal cloning would just involve putting your own complete chromosomes into an egg with its own DNA removed, and since it now has a complete set it begins to develop.

Now in theory you could make a female clone of a male doner by stitching two copies of a male doner's X chromosome but it would have to be deliberately done. Maybe the machinery the tech priest was using had that as an option, but he was unaware of the full capabilities of the machine, and accidentally did that.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

jareddm wrote:
The rule I follow is the Imperium doesn't care enough to be trans/homophobic. But it also doesn't care enough not to be.

Indeed. They're not going to care. They certainly won't provide any accommodation for it either. But if you want to pay for it and live that way then nobody will stop you.

Huh, I coulda sworn there was an early point after insemination where it's still up in the air how your cells are gonna pan out. But this is half remembered information so I shall take your word on it.

As to how the imperium reacts, my rule of thumb, what would the nazi/soviet union do? 40k is meant to be a dark mirror of the real world, if it has bigots against it here then the ecclesiachy will be against it.

Well as I said, there can be errors which cause the wrong/both sets to form, but the correct set is determined by the chromosomes. Or specifically the chromosomes effect the levels of estrogen/testosterone produced and those levels then cause the cells to form one or the other. The errors in question usually revolve around something disrupting the hormones of the developing child. Drugs, mutation, maybe even diet of the mother etc...

Its not well understood what all the factors are that could cause a problem like this. Both because it is very rare and experimentation to find out would of course be highly unethical.

Interestingly, the sperm being what determines the sex is not universal. In birds the chromosomes are flipped. The females are ZW and males are ZZ, so it is the Egg which determines the sex. Some species do not have sex chromosomes at all, like Crocodiles where the sex is determined by the temperature of incubation.

As to how the imperium reacts, my rule of thumb, what would the nazi/soviet union do? 40k is meant to be a dark mirror of the real world, if it has bigots against it here then the ecclesiachy will be against it.

Weirdly, the imperium seems to kind of sidestep a lot of realworld internal discrimination by virtue of having literal aliens to serve as an outgroup. The function of hating minority groups in real-world fascism is that it gives you a scapegoat you can prop up as The Enemy. In the 41st millenium, orks and eldar and tyranids can serve as The Enemy that humanity unites against. No need to rally up hate against the local trans folk when you have green-skinned fungus monsters raiding your world or brain-exploding witches popping up randomly around the planet.

The rule I follow is the Imperium doesn't care enough to be trans/homophobic. But it also doesn't care enough not to be.

Individual worlds' views can run the gamut in any direction, but the Imperium isn't going to come in and do something about it just because a particular local population is being oppressed or scapegoated.

This sounds about right. In the abstract, the imperium doesn't seem to care one way or the other about trans folks. Individual worlds may have transphobic cultures for whatever reason, and the high lords of Terra aren't going to deploy any space marines to set those worlds straight. But also, they're not going to go out of their way to make gender-affirming care available to all the drudges working 20 hour workdays in the adamantium mines.

In the imperator book the main tech priest used gender neutral pronouns, “ve” rather than he/she and was surprised when they met another tech priest who used gendered pronouns, in fact they looked down on them with some scorn that they still so human as to want to “gender” themselves. So it’s definitely a politics being played out in the ad mech, but I think it’s more about there humanity rather than specifically gender.

jareddm wrote:
The rule I follow is the Imperium doesn't care enough to be trans/homophobic. But it also doesn't care enough not to be.

Individual worlds' views can run the gamut in any direction, but the Imperium isn't going to come in and do something about it just because a particular local population is being oppressed or scapegoated.

As for techpriests , I would say that while ascension beyond gender might be a goal, most followers of the Machine Cult are nowhere near the level of mechanization where I see them dropping it entirely.

Pretty much this. My guess is that unless there’s something about a given subject in the Imperial Cult? Nobody running the show especially cares.

From High Lord of Terra to Planetary Governor down to Shift Boss? Their main concern is Tithes being met, which in turn helps keep The Imperium ticking.

Making sure everyone uses the correct door when visiting the Smallest Room is a level of micromanagement that is utterly unnecessary, and unproductive. Likewise in anyone bothering to check your wedding tackle matches that listed on your ID or what have you.

A monolithic government of that scale doesn’t care about such trivial stuff, because to do so takes a lot of resources to check something which is ultimately completely irrelevant to that government’s wider goals.

Now there will be swivel eyed loonies at all strata of that society who may claim it does matter and should be policed. One only need look at The Redemptionists to see evidence of that. But even then? If there’s nothing in the Lectitio Divinatus about it? The Imperial Cult won’t care, so if a splinter of the Imperial Cult does care, it’s down to local variation and that, and may be actively denounced as Not Mattering, because the main Good Book Written By A Very Bad Primarch says nowt about it etc etc.

Instead, we see an oppressive culture where, provided you toe the line and do what it demanded, you’re otherwise left alone in whatever leisure and personal time you may or may not have.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

beast_gts wrote:
Slightly OT - There's a male tech-priest in Forges of Mars who clones himself, and is surprised when the clone turns out female.

How does that even work? Did someone clone-cuck him?

Lords of Mars wrote:But all that had changed when a one in ten trillion random fluctuation in the genetic sequencing of his clone had spontaneously mutated its code and transformed what should have been a genetic copy of Vitali into a distinct individual. A daughter.

I guess that makes sense. Better than a rival tech priest swapping out his clone/DNA as a prank.

Formosa wrote:ok bare with me, no there would be no trans people if the tech is so advanced one could literally turn a male into a female, trans is a 3rd state of being one and either identifying as the other or engaging in an operation to have the outward features (until our technology can achieve otherwise) of what society deems as a "woman" or "man"

given the level of technology to change beings at the genetic level in most societies in 40k the concept of "trans" simply would not exist as we know it if we are thinking consistently in the universe, it would as mundane as someone having a haircut.

which when you think about it is really the ultimate goal of the acceptance movement, so normal its not even thought about.

People would still be *trans*, in that they wouldn't be cisgendered. The main point comes in that them being trans wouldn't matter within the Imperium. I do also question the idea of trans as a "third state of being" - it rather does invalidate the identities of transpeople as not being considered equal/valid to the gender they identify with. Or that transfolk don't *need* operations/surgery to be trans - that's a choice to make, but it's not ever required at part of someone's identity. Not to mention that non-binary and agender people do also fit under the "trans" banner, and so the binary idea of "you are BECOMING a man or woman" just doesn't work for those individuals.

But yes, very much agreed that *on the whole*, most societies in 40k that have a sense of gender wouldn't care about transgender people, and there's no mass institutional opposition to it.

 Wyldhunt wrote:

As to how the imperium reacts, my rule of thumb, what would the nazi/soviet union do? 40k is meant to be a dark mirror of the real world, if it has bigots against it here then the ecclesiachy will be against it.

Weirdly, the imperium seems to kind of sidestep a lot of realworld internal discrimination by virtue of having literal aliens to serve as an outgroup. The function of hating minority groups in real-world fascism is that it gives you a scapegoat you can prop up as The Enemy. In the 41st millenium, orks and eldar and tyranids can serve as The Enemy that humanity unites against. No need to rally up hate against the local trans folk when you have green-skinned fungus monsters raiding your world or brain-exploding witches popping up randomly around the planet.

The rule I follow is the Imperium doesn't care enough to be trans/homophobic. But it also doesn't care enough not to be.

Individual worlds' views can run the gamut in any direction, but the Imperium isn't going to come in and do something about it just because a particular local population is being oppressed or scapegoated.

This sounds about right. In the abstract, the imperium doesn't seem to care one way or the other about trans folks. Individual worlds may have transphobic cultures for whatever reason, and the high lords of Terra aren't going to deploy any space marines to set those worlds straight. But also, they're not going to go out of their way to make gender-affirming care available to all the drudges working 20 hour workdays in the adamantium mines.

I highly disagree with this. The imperium has been known for it's intolerance for any sort of mutation or difference in belief. At times to comical levels such as the commisars or black templars.

cody.d. wrote:

 Wyldhunt wrote:

As to how the imperium reacts, my rule of thumb, what would the nazi/soviet union do? 40k is meant to be a dark mirror of the real world, if it has bigots against it here then the ecclesiachy will be against it.

Weirdly, the imperium seems to kind of sidestep a lot of realworld internal discrimination by virtue of having literal aliens to serve as an outgroup. The function of hating minority groups in real-world fascism is that it gives you a scapegoat you can prop up as The Enemy. In the 41st millenium, orks and eldar and tyranids can serve as The Enemy that humanity unites against. No need to rally up hate against the local trans folk when you have green-skinned fungus monsters raiding your world or brain-exploding witches popping up randomly around the planet.

The rule I follow is the Imperium doesn't care enough to be trans/homophobic. But it also doesn't care enough not to be.

Individual worlds' views can run the gamut in any direction, but the Imperium isn't going to come in and do something about it just because a particular local population is being oppressed or scapegoated.

This sounds about right. In the abstract, the imperium doesn't seem to care one way or the other about trans folks. Individual worlds may have transphobic cultures for whatever reason, and the high lords of Terra aren't going to deploy any space marines to set those worlds straight. But also, they're not going to go out of their way to make gender-affirming care available to all the drudges working 20 hour workdays in the adamantium mines.

I highly disagree with this. The imperium has been known for it's intolerance for any sort of mutation or difference in belief. At times to comical levels such as the commisars or black templars.

Right, but that's because mutants and heretics are their outgroups of choice. By making those extreme minorities the outsiders instead of discriminating against, say, trans people, they can functionally avoid alienating trans people and thus have even more humans included in their loyal in-group. Heretics are slightly trickier as breaks from dogma can potentially lead to a reduction in loyalty to the ecclesiarchy (or at least to its main branch). So encouraging people to hate and fear those with "heretical beliefs" both provides an out-group to rally against and helps prune potential challenges to the ecclesiarchy's authority from the in-group.

The imperium is a hateful, xenophobic, absolutely disgusting structure. It's just that its specific brand of hate happens avoid certain common real-world forms of hate.

cody.d. wrote:
I highly disagree with this. The imperium has been known for it's intolerance for any sort of mutation or difference in belief. At times to comical levels such as the commisars or black templars.

Within the context of transgender folk, what exactly do you mean by that?

And there’s no evidence in the lore of systemic persecution of otherwise Emperor Fearing individuals or groups.

A mutant is a mutant is a mutant. Whether caused by exposure to the warp, manky chemicals, general genetic oddities etc.

A Witch is a wild, untrained, unsanctioned psyker of genuine threat to everyone else.

A Heretic can be in the eye of the beholder, due to deviations from doctrine.

But there’s nothing in the lore to suggest a systemic persecution for contents of pants, preferred partner, amount of melanin etc.

 Gert wrote:

cody.d. wrote:
I highly disagree with this. The imperium has been known for it's intolerance for any sort of mutation or difference in belief. At times to comical levels such as the commisars or black templars.

Within the context of transgender folk, what exactly do you mean by that?

40k is a parody of real world issues. If some real world bible thumping spanker will say trans people are bad cause this book says so then I suspect it will be even more extreme in 40k. Or otherwise banned due to heartless beuocracy. "Pride flags? BANNED! The pigments are needed by the astrates to colour their ships." Get what I mean?

The perversity of 40K is the that “other” preached against and actively persecuted do tend to be genuinely existential threats to the people and the Government.

An Ork, Eldar, Tau, Kroot, Grot, Necron, Daemon, Chaos Cultist is everything awful you’re told about them, and almost certainly far, far worse.

The Satanic Panic stuff of our world is Very Silly Indeed

In The Imperium? Daemons absolutely do exist. And they will take frankly outrageous liberties with your knees. And the rituals for summoning them can be hidden in otherwise innocent seeming texts.

Your Neighbour with the unusual skin colouration is entirely possibly the very very very illegal alien, with their weird Four Armed God and Emperor’s sake don’t look them in the eye!


You don’t need small minded persecution of ultimately trivial differences when you have actual existential threats to scare people into compliance with.

cody.d. wrote:40k is a parody of real world issues. If some real world bible thumping spanker will say trans people are bad cause this book says so then I suspect it will be even more extreme in 40k. Or otherwise banned due to heartless beuocracy. "Pride flags? BANNED! The pigments are needed by the astrates to colour their ships." Get what I mean?

No, I don't.

40k ABSOLUTELY parodies real issues, but it doesn't do it by ever obliquely using those real world issues as the same sources of conflict. The Imperium isn't institutionally sexist, homophobic, or transphobic. In fact, no group in 40k shows any sign being so, for a variety of reasons.

The discrimination and phobias you mention *do* show up, but nearly exclusively in one form - xenophobia, the fear and hatred of the outsider. This quite literally can mean the alien, but it also extends to those who simply aren't within the Imperium (and even then, there's plenty of conflict). But because of that, short of actually being a mutant or exhibiting heretical behaviour, you're not really going to be discriminated against, at least institutionally. Which means that pride flags, as a real world construct and reaction to racial policies and attitudes in the real present world, simply wouldn't exist in 40k as symbols to do with their current meanings. There's unlikely to be Pride Parades, because all parades are probably reserved for worshipping the Emperor or some other theological figure - and we'd likely see people all across the LGBTQ+ spectrum in those parades without anyone particularly caring.

Quite a few novels have involved former or non imperial worlds undergoing violent "compliance" when they just wanted to be left to their own devices peacefully and without bothering anyone else and were forced to conform or die. Seems like a decent enough analogy to me. People will force you to follow their morals or standards even if you don't negatively affect them in any way, shape or form.

Yes, writers will rarely go out of their way to say, imperium dislikes LGBQT+ but based on how Orwellian dystopian with a literal inquisition it all is I don't think it's a leap to say that anything outside of a very narrow set of standards would not be allowed.

Also things like Tithes, reminds me of the fallout Brotherhood being a bit homophobic because it resulted in less children being born. Taking away personal choice and dehumanizing relationships in the name of a supposed higher goal. If you're not producing kids for the manufactoria then your doing heresy against the Emperor or some nonsense.

The imperium is not good, nor progressive, they tend to control every aspect of people's lives with arranged marriages being mentioned in a few novels, or entire people being born into slavery, forcibly surgically mutilated and walked around in chain gangs. (specifically the Baneblade/Shadowsword novels in this case.)