40k Easter Eggs

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**Brother SRM**

Beat you to it by 56 seconds

**ifStatement**

Brother SRM wrote:He's based on Vulcan, who was a Greek god of handling fire and forges: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(mythology)

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:vulcan was the roman Smith God who lived in a fiery mountain called Vulcano: where we get the Volcano from: the salamanders were based of this idea

Brother SRM wrote:Beat you to it by 56 seconds

Yeh but you got it wrong. He was a Roman god not a greek god.

**Jakka**

ifStatement wrote:

Jakka wrote:I am convinced that Lord General Solar whatsit Macharius is General MacArthur

I think it's clear he is based on Alexander the Great.

Welcome to three weeks ago

**ifStatement**

oh ok sorry

**Rottooth**

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:
Deadshot wrote:Vulcan or someone like that was like a roman god who forged ghings or summing.

vulcan was the roman Smith God who lived in a fiery mountain called Vulcano: where we get the Volcano from: the salamanders were based of this idea

Ok, that makes more sense. But the Star Trek reference kinda fits too.

Speaking of the Vulcans... Watch Star Trek 3: A Search for Spock. Check out how the vulcans at the end are dressed. Some of them look kinda Eldar-ish.

**Cameron Baum**

The Sollex-Aegis Energy Blade mentioned in Dark Heresy: The Inquisitor's Handbook smacks of Lightsabre to me...

Oh, and the Dark Eldar remind me a bit of the Sabbat in Vampire: The Masquerade. Mandrakes are being s that can pop up from shadows and stuff... That sounds like a tame version of the Lasombra. And The haemonculi and their flesh-crafting experiments... That's a scary ringer for the Tzimisce.

**Brother SRM**

Rottooth wrote:
Speaking of the Vulcans... Watch Star Trek 3: A Search for Spock. Check out how the vulcans at the end are dressed. Some of them look kinda Eldar-ish.

That's just because in the future people wear goofy clothes.

**Cameron Baum**

Brother SRM wrote:
Rottooth wrote:
Speaking of the Vulcans... Watch Star Trek 3: A Search for Spock. Check out how the vulcans at the end are dressed. Some of them look kinda Eldar-ish.

That's just because in the future people wear goofy clothes.

Hmmm... This is depressing news, because it means that in the future, I'll be wearing goofy clothes...

**Brother SRM**

Cameron Baum wrote:
Hmmm... This is depressing news, because it means that in the future, I'll be wearing goofy clothes...

I dunno, that sounds pretty awesome to me. I can't wait for the Star Trek future where we all wear brightly colored polyester and minidresses.

**Cameron Baum**

Brother SRM wrote:
Cameron Baum wrote:
Hmmm... This is depressing news, because it means that in the future, I'll be wearing goofy clothes...

I dunno, that sounds pretty awesome to me. I can't wait for the Star Trek future where we all wear brightly colored polyester and minidresses.

Me in a minidress would field nightmares...

**TrollPie**

My favourite is Canis Wolfborn the Thunderwold-riding Wolf Guard to Wolf Lord Harald Deathwolf of the Space Wolves. I think it might be referencing some kind of animal.

**Psienesis**

Cameron Baum wrote:The Sollex-Aegis Energy Blade mentioned in Dark Heresy: The Inquisitor's Handbook smacks of Lightsabre to me...

I think this has been mentioned already, but that's actually taken directly from an Eisenhorn novel. Eisenhorn carried a Sollex-pattern powersword for quite some time, and was described as a "blade of pure energy"... so, yeah, there are patterns of powerswords that are lightsabers. The Lord Inquisitor NPC in my DH game carries one. Red bladed. Black power armor. Has an augmetic rebreather unit installed following a grievous combat injury.

**blazinpsycho&typhooni**

If i remember correctly in one of the Salamander novels they meet a dragon warrior and at the end when he pops out his arm blades one of them asks

does it hurt when they come out?
Aye, everytime

X-men obvs

**Deadshot**

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus

Horus in Ancient Egypt.

**moom241**

The word "Malal" means, in some language or another, malice, and Malal the Chaos god is the god of nihilism and spite. And now he is referred to as that name.

**Coolyo294**

TrollPie wrote:My favourite is Canis Wolfborn the Thunderwold-riding Wolf Guard to Wolf Lord Harald Deathwolf of the Space Wolves. I think it might be referencing some kind of animal.

I can't possibly imagine how you could come to that conclusion.

**Cameron Baum**

Psienesis wrote:
Cameron Baum wrote:The Sollex-Aegis Energy Blade mentioned in Dark Heresy: The Inquisitor's Handbook smacks of Lightsabre to me...

I think this has been mentioned already, but that's actually taken directly from an Eisenhorn novel. Eisenhorn carried a Sollex-pattern powersword for quite some time, and was described as a "blade of pure energy"... so, yeah, there are patterns of powerswords that are lightsabers. The Lord Inquisitor NPC in my DH game carries one. Red bladed. Black power armor. Has an augmetic rebreather unit installed following a grievous combat injury.

Believe it or not, I was the first on the thread to mention it. And the fluff matched lightsabres quite well.

**BaronIveagh**

Magpie wrote:I haven't checked and maybe there aren't any actual real connections but if the Grey Knights aren't inspired by Opus Dei and the Inquisitors by Torquemada I'll eat my helm !

Actually, those grey knights have a very different inspiration.

Leodegarius and Arturus are the most blatent, but almost all the early Grey Knights were refereences to the Arthurian Cycle.

**Cameron Baum**

BaronIveagh wrote:
Magpie wrote:I haven't checked and maybe there aren't any actual real connections but if the Grey Knights aren't inspired by Opus Dei and the Inquisitors by Torquemada I'll eat my helm !

Actually, those grey knights have a very different inspiration.

Leodegarius and Arturus are the most blatent, but almost all the early Grey Knights were refereences to the Arthurian Cycle.

Isn't that round table in Winchester?

So... does that mean that Kaldor Draego is King Arthur?

**imrandomghgh**

Brother SRM wrote:
broodstar wrote:So this week I've learned that the Dark Angel codex and their primarch is actual a reference to a poem by you guessed it Lionel Johnson. A there anyone references to book and thing in 40k?

And his poem Dark Angel was about unrequited love for another man. The DA's old "secret" was that they were gay. Then the GW writers realized that was a horrible joke and just made half of them fall to Chaos instead, retconning out that one bit.

Al'Raheim is Lawrence of Arabia, Ghazgkull Thrakka is Margaret Thatcher, Pedro Kantor is named after Peter Kantor, one of the original GW designers, Sgt. Bastonne is based on a real person but I can't recall who, as is pretty much every special character.

The amount of Dune references, from nomenclature to whole ideas is pretty staggering as well. Lasguns, glowglobes, chapterhouses, and plenty of other terminology comes straight from the books. Navigators are largely the same as they are, Bene Gesserit are psykers, and Sardaukar are similar to Marines in many regards. Marines come more from Starship Troopers than anything else though, while Imperial society and hive cities are straight out of, well, Dune, and Judge Dredd.

All sci fi borrows from everything else, 40k is just a huge melting pot of ideas, concepts, and characters that make it distinctive.

While I agree there are some Dune references, sci-fi is a group of ideas, and some are inevitably going to be similar to others. Without getting silly, there are only so many sci-fi models for giant cities, and Starship troopers started the idea of space marines, but Astartes end their similarities there, and are clearly better thought out than most SM arch-types (they invented 18 different space marine organs with their own names and functions, I don't think I can name any other SMs with 18 different genetic alterations, plus they basically made them supersoldiers designed to be better than other supersoldiers).

Automatically Appended Next Post:
You know, I think my favourite 40k reference though is Talos the Nightlord. Talos is the name of a giant bronze golem/automaton from greek mythology who was basically unstoppable.

**Cameron Baum**

imrandomghgh wrote:
Brother SRM wrote:
broodstar wrote:So this week I've learned that the Dark Angel codex and their primarch is actual a reference to a poem by you guessed it Lionel Johnson. A there anyone references to book and thing in 40k?

And his poem Dark Angel was about unrequited love for another man. The DA's old "secret" was that they were gay. Then the GW writers realized that was a horrible joke and just made half of them fall to Chaos instead, retconning out that one bit.

Al'Raheim is Lawrence of Arabia, Ghazgkull Thrakka is Margaret Thatcher, Pedro Kantor is named after Peter Kantor, one of the original GW designers, Sgt. Bastonne is based on a real person but I can't recall who, as is pretty much every special character.

The amount of Dune references, from nomenclature to whole ideas is pretty staggering as well. Lasguns, glowglobes, chapterhouses, and plenty of other terminology comes straight from the books. Navigators are largely the same as they are, Bene Gesserit are psykers, and Sardaukar are similar to Marines in many regards. Marines come more from Starship Troopers than anything else though, while Imperial society and hive cities are straight out of, well, Dune, and Judge Dredd.

All sci fi borrows from everything else, 40k is just a huge melting pot of ideas, concepts, and characters that make it distinctive.

While I agree there are some Dune references, sci-fi is a group of ideas, and some are inevitably going to be similar to others. Without getting silly, there are only so many sci-fi models for giant cities, and Starship troopers started the idea of space marines, but Astartes end their similarities there, and are clearly better thought out than most SM arch-types (they invented 18 different space marine organs with their own names and functions, I don't think I can name any other SMs with 18 different genetic alterations, plus they basically made them supersoldiers designed to be better than other supersoldiers).

Automatically Appended Next Post:
You know, I think my favourite 40k reference though is Talos the Nightlord. Talos is the name of a giant bronze golem/automaton from greek mythology who was basically unstoppable.

Tyranids= Bugs from Starship Trooper/Alien
Sisters of Battle=Fish Speakers
SM=Sardaukar+Mobile Infantry
Warp Navigaters=Guild Navigators
Immortal man is called God Emperor of the Imperium, after having to make himself immobilised to rule for thousands of years= Leto II, immortal, and undergoes a change that makes him immobile that makes him the God Emperor of the known universe. (happens in a book called... The God Emperor Of Dune.)
Warp(cross with Star Wars' Hyperspace and Lovecrafts worst nightmares) is a realm that can give psychic power, but is dangerous to use=Spice Melange

I'm certain that others can produce more...

**broodstar**

Tyranids are serpents from many mythologies.

**BaronIveagh**

Cameron Baum wrote:
Isn't that round table in Winchester?

So... does that mean that Kaldor Draego is King Arthur?

Yes,

and

Only in the sense that Matt Ward thinks he's Mallory.

**imrandomghgh**

Tyranids= Bugs from Starship Trooper/Alien
Sisters of Battle=Fish Speakers
SM=Sardaukar+Mobile Infantry
Warp Navigaters=Guild Navigators
Immortal man is called God Emperor of the Imperium, after having to make himself immobilised to rule for thousands of years= Leto II, immortal, and undergoes a change that makes him immobile that makes him the God Emperor of the known universe. (happens in a book called... The God Emperor Of Dune.)
Warp(cross with Star Wars' Hyperspace and Lovecrafts worst nightmares) is a realm that can give psychic power, but is dangerous to use=Spice Melange

Bugs in space is a more common concept then you give credit for.
A stretch, but whatever. Granted, kinda.
Being elite troopers is all they have in common with sardaukar. If anything, sardakaur are more like the penal legion.
Granted.
Being enormously powerful but can't walk? Maybe they BOTH copied professor X? See how ridiculous this one is?
Power having a price is as old as fiction, don't try to make that a Dune comparison. Also, FTL involving dropping out of the material world is in almost ubiquitous in sci-fi that has FTL.

**Cameron Baum**

imrandomghgh wrote:
Tyranids= Bugs from Starship Trooper/Alien
Sisters of Battle=Fish Speakers
SM=Sardaukar+Mobile Infantry
Warp Navigaters=Guild Navigators
Immortal man is called God Emperor of the Imperium, after having to make himself immobilised to rule for thousands of years= Leto II, immortal, and undergoes a change that makes him immobile that makes him the God Emperor of the known universe. (happens in a book called... The God Emperor Of Dune.)
Warp(cross with Star Wars' Hyperspace and Lovecrafts worst nightmares) is a realm that can give psychic power, but is dangerous to use=Spice Melange

Being enormously powerful but can't walk? Maybe they BOTH copied professor X? See how ridiculous this one is?
Power having a price is as old as fiction, don't try to make that a Dune comparison. Also, FTL involving dropping out of the material world is in almost ubiquitous in sci-fi that has FTL.

Last I checked, Charles Xavier isn't Immortal, and hasn't evolved into a giant worm. X-Men didn't really get off the ground until 1975, and that was after years of being cancelled. And thinking about it, the Emprah doing the whole Crusade thingy makes me think of Paul Atreidies and his Fremen revolution. And he was the most powerful man born, created by powerful psychics manipulating a breeding program to create him.

Also, there have been periods when Xavier can walk, and let us not forget the morally dubious acts he has committed. He is no saint, far from it. And Leto II mutated himself into a human/worm hybrid, which made him physically next to impossible to kill. And he had deliberately made himself a tyrant, manipulating humanity for millennia, to breed out the right kind of Psychic, one that can't bee seen with prescience. Isn't the Emprah doing the exact type of thing? Staying alive to guide humanity until it has developed enough psychically?

**Brother SRM**

imrandomghgh wrote:
Bugs in space is a more common concept then you give credit for

Well, bugs in space is a concept that was more or less invented as we know it with Heinlein's Starship Troopers back in the 50's. Genestealers were straight out of Alien and Aliens also.

**Ascalam**

Sneaky one:

Russian word for steel, in cyrillic text: сталь = Ctan

Has anyone mentioned Kruellagh the Vile yet? Only DE (previous codex) would have a SC named after her

**Psienesis**

Hmm, I think you can look to the works of Lovecraft and his contemporaries for more "bugs in space" fiction. Heinlein doesn't have a lock on that. His bugs, too, are not mindless killing machines (like they are depicted as in the film).

**nomsheep**

Psienesis wrote:Hmm, I think you can look to the works of Lovecraft and his contemporaries for more "bugs in space" fiction. Heinlein doesn't have a lock on that. His bugs, too, are not mindless killing machines (like they are depicted as in the film).

some of the bugs in the films have intelligence ranging from genius to limited.

Nom

**Psienesis**

Only the brain-bugs, while the line-trooper bug that attacks the MI in massive waves are, essentially, mindless. This was not the case in the book, where even the basic troop-bug was a sentient, intelligent being.