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if say a planet that had human society on it was found by the imperium somewhere... what would happen to it? would they purge and colonize it? would they subjugate the people there and put in a governor? What would happen?

At first, I'd guess they would use diplomacy to try to get them to rejoin. If that fails, they go in with the IG and subjugate them with force.

It depends on the level of development and the type of culture found on the planet. For example, in the case where the human society is extremely primitive, it is not unheard of the Imperium merely building a space-station in orbit around the planet and installing a governor there, and largely leaving the planet to its own devices until there is some reason to react (such as a rise in chaos cults or the discovery of valuable materials). In the case of more developed civilizations, at a level similar to earth during the beginning of the industrial revolution, they would probably subjugate the planet, trying diplomacy at first, and then force if necessary. If the planet possessed technology similar to modern day earth, they would probably be declared heretics and bombed back to the stone age.

Wrote a piece of fanfic bout this once, my interpretation on it was:

A.) the minor human civilization reacted joyously at the idea of a greater human civilization out there, they had no idea due to 20,000 years of isolation. Held a big parade for the Imperial delegation, which they thought was coming just to set up a embassy or the like. Of course suspicious or violent reactions are just as likely.
B.) the minor human government sits down with the Administratum, Mechanicus, and Ecclesiarchy officials and discuss terms of relations. They are shocked to find that the Imperium demands complete subordination, tithes, and mandatory worship of the Imperial Cult.
C.) The negotiations break down and eventually it leads to an Imperial invasion.

It depends entirely on who finds them.

If space marines find them, there's a nearly 100% chance that it's while the marines are on crusade. When this happens, the space marines basically show up and assassinate all of the leadership on the planet and take over. If they can't co-opt the planet, the imperial guard shows up and kills everything that resists. Regardless of resistance levels, the guard will be there eventually along with the munitorum to take full control over the subjugated peoples.

If it's an ecclesiarchy missionary, things to much more gently. Missionaries will show up and gradually convert the local religion into one of emperor worship. They will also take whatever they find and set up a church-like hierarchy. Odds are they'll become a shrine world, but they might well ask for a governor or get coerced into taking one on, but that transition is relatively smooth.

If it's a rogue trader then nothing will happen originally, they'll just set up an economic relationship. Eventually the planet will have to start running through political hoops to keep up the economic benefits of access to the Imperium and will get on board that way.

This is the topic of the HH novel Fallen Angels (although it includes finding a Primarch).

The lucky societies are either too well armed, too difficult to reach or simply too uninteresting to warrant much ( at least in the short term ) imperial attention.
After all, even the Imperium's ressources are limited and cannot be wasted.
The less lucky ones will be subdued either trough diplomacy or by brute force.

What if they run into a planet of Atheists? I see a lot of reference to "changing the worlds religion", since Atheism is especially on the rise on our planet today I don't see that as improbable.

Especially since the Emperor didn't want to be worshipped or start a religion, what if they had old evidence of that?

Just food for thought, I'm new to Imperial fluff since I was Tau before haha.

since Atheism is especially on the rise on our planet today I don't see that as improbable.

not in the highly populated eras neither with the places with the highest childbirth growth.

if a planet would be "atheist" , It would be heretical and the church would start a war of faith against them and all factions of the imperium would be forced to help them .

Atheism is the fastest growing belief group right behind agnostic. But thats a different discussion all together.

In any case if there is a relgion that cannot be changed to worshop the emperor they will just subjugate you. There is no playing nice with humans in 40k.

 Ailaros wrote:
It depends entirely on who finds them.

If space marines find them, there's a nearly 100% chance that it's while the marines are on crusade. When this happens, the space marines basically show up and assassinate all of the leadership on the planet and take over. If they can't co-opt the planet, the imperial guard shows up and kills everything that resists. Regardless of resistance levels, the guard will be there eventually along with the munitorum to take full control over the subjugated peoples.

If it's an ecclesiarchy missionary, things to much more gently. Missionaries will show up and gradually convert the local religion into one of emperor worship. They will also take whatever they find and set up a church-like hierarchy. Odds are they'll become a shrine world, but they might well ask for a governor or get coerced into taking one on, but that transition is relatively smooth.

If it's a rogue trader then nothing will happen originally, they'll just set up an economic relationship. Eventually the planet will have to start running through political hoops to keep up the economic benefits of access to the Imperium and will get on board that way.

for the SMs, you are jumping the gun there. In fact the Space Marines have never done that before. They would follow the precidence set for them during the Great Crusade. That is say hello, and inform the people of the glorious Imperium. If the people show even the mildest interest in talking with the Imperium, than diplomats are sent in. If the offer is refused, the SMs do what you said except the IG would be called in regardless (someone needs to hold the newly aquired world as the SMs go out and do their job)

 hazal wrote:
Atheism is the fastest growing belief group right behind agnostic. But thats a different discussion all together.

In any case if there is a relgion that cannot be changed to worshop the emperor they will just subjugate you. There is no playing nice with humans in 40k.

What about the other part of if they had evidence showing the Emperor didn't want all that? I assume it would be treated as heresy and burned? lol

 Atheos wrote:

 hazal wrote:
Atheism is the fastest growing belief group right behind agnostic. But thats a different discussion all together.

In any case if there is a relgion that cannot be changed to worshop the emperor they will just subjugate you. There is no playing nice with humans in 40k.

What about the other part of if they had evidence showing the Emperor didn't want all that? I assume it would be treated as heresy and burned? lol

Pretty much. There's been some discussion that the powers that be of the imperium don't want the emperor to come back, because if he did he sure as heck wouldn't like how things are operating now and would do something about it.

 Atheos wrote:
What if they run into a planet of Atheists? I see a lot of reference to "changing the worlds religion", since Atheism is especially on the rise on our planet today I don't see that as improbable.

Especially since the Emperor didn't want to be worshipped or start a religion, what if they had old evidence of that?

Atheism would be considered heretical. However, I doubt it would lead to too many problems unless the atheism was state-mandated; if it isn't, the Ecclesiarchy would just evangelize them as fast as possible, and it shouldn't be too hard when you have physical evidence of the Emperor protecting.

Atheism will eventually fall over to something in Warhammer 40,000, at the very least something similar to deism. Atheism is demonstrably incorrect in the setting with Chaos Gods; while the Emperor tried to propagate atheist beliefs, he acknowledges that the gods at least exist.

1068SCP wrote:

 Atheos wrote:
What if they run into a planet of Atheists? I see a lot of reference to "changing the worlds religion", since Atheism is especially on the rise on our planet today I don't see that as improbable.

Especially since the Emperor didn't want to be worshipped or start a religion, what if they had old evidence of that?

Atheism would be considered heretical. However, I doubt it would lead to too many problems unless the atheism was state-mandated; if it isn't, the Ecclesiarchy would just evangelize them as fast as possible, and it shouldn't be too hard when you have physical evidence of the Emperor protecting.

Atheism will eventually fall over to something in Warhammer 40,000, at the very least something similar to deism. Atheism is demonstrably incorrect in the setting with Chaos Gods; while the Emperor tried to propagate atheist beliefs, he acknowledges that the gods at least exist.

Just to continue this line of thought I'd argue it depends on your definition of a "God". I could be wrong in my lore here but aren't the Chaos Gods manifested in the Warp by the psychic/physical emotions of Humans/other species? And since Draigo(arbitrary & obligatory FU to Matt Ward goes here) is stuck in said warp where these Gods reside... doesn't that make them part of our Galaxy? I guess my argument is they're not entirely separate or as metaphysical as they appear to be on paper. I don't think that makes Atheism demonstrably incorrect depending on what light you look at it in .

Which makes me wonder how the Tau view the Warp and the Chaos Gods? Are they not completely aware of them yet? They strike me as the kind of society I'd be referring to as well.

Like I don't believe the Tau are fully aware of them. I'm no expert on Tau at all, but my buddy who plays them told me they don't even really have psychers. If that's true, do they not travel through the warp then? If that was the case, I'd could see how that was possible.

 Wight Lord wrote:
Like I don't believe the Tau are fully aware of them. I'm no expert on Tau at all, but my buddy who plays them told me they don't even really have psychers. If that's true, do they not travel through the warp then? If that was the case, I'd could see how that was possible.

I was previously a Tau player... a pretty avid one xD will probably collect them again when the new Dex comes out.

The Tau are now aware of the Warp. They've been especially aware of it since an old world wide campaign on Medusa where they experimented with it. Since Tau players didn't do to well the lore went with their experiment failing and them banning future experiments with it if I remember correctly. They don't have any psychers and have no real presence in the Warp, they basically do a limited form of "jumping" at FTL speeds. Their Lore has not been updated for a very long time so a lot of this is just old stuff.. a new Dex will shed light on things I assume.

I suppose you could argue their experimentation with it reinforces my idea that it's tied in with our universe though? lol

Well, I'm not so sure Atheism would really be considered heretical to the Imperium. The planet wouldn't be punished for not knowing the Emperor existed (at least, probably not. ). So really, they would just educate them of his greatness. Alternatively, a separate religion could be viewed as worshipping false deities, and so could be in need of more oppressive re-education. Really, I don't think the Imperium would be as bothered with finding Atheist societies.

Planet assessed for resources, living or otherwise, to determine material value to the IoM. Along with this its location for strategic value of a world capable of sustaining human life.
Population encourage to come into Compliance with the IoM. Planet if necessary "vigoursly" encouraged into compliance, (invaded).
Planet brought into compliance and local human population either successfully indoctrinated or removed and planet repopulated with IoM citizens from other worlds.

That's my take on it.

From GW's older, more elusive fluff (Liber Sororitas, WD #292):

"A little-known group amongst the peoples of the Imperium, the Orders Sabine operate at the very edges of human space, perhaps only returning to Terra or Ophelia VII once in a Sister Sabine's lifetime. The Orders Sabine accompany the Missionarius Galaxia on missions to newly rediscovered human worlds, and they specialise in infiltrating those often regressed and primitive societies that are believed would oppose the arrival of the Imperium. Sisters Sabine often set themselves up as prophets of the Emperor, preaching the Imperial Cult in secret or fomenting revolt against the religious leaders of a world. When the Missionarius Galaxia arrives and announces its presence to the world's peoples, the Sisters Sabine will have prophesised such an event, and will lead those natives sympathetic to the Imperial Creed in a sudden and deadly coup against their leaders. Through their work, the Sisters Sabine are often cut off from the Imperium for a great many years, and many have the appearance of having 'gone native', adopting the clothing, language and manners of the culture they are infiltrating. It is only when her true purpose is revealed that the Sabine will throw off her disguise and become, once again, a pious servant of the Emperor."

Official "First Contact" efforts are always accompanied by Missionaries who play a great role in the ensuing diplomacy between the natives and the Imperium, whereas the newly installed Imperial Governor - either a local native who seems promising, or an officer of the Imperial Guard regiment that was necessary to subjugate the world (and will stay to enforce Imperial dominance) - will be handed the Adeptus Terra's tithe list so that he knows what is expected of him. Simultaneously, the Adeptus Arbites will arrive to garrison a precinct, and soon thereafter Preachers will follow the Missionaries to establish spiritual service. I imagine the Adeptus Mechanicus would send someone as well to inspect/assess local technology and, if a suitable deal can be negotiated, help "uplift" the civilization (or parts thereof) by granting license to produce sanctioned patterns of Imperial technology to local manufacturers. In fact, there also exists a healthy degree of rivalry between the AdMech and the Missionaries on who gets to check out local technology first, as whoever finds it has first grabs. That the Missionaries are at the forefront of the Imperium's "reconquista" often grants the Adeptus Ministorum a notable advantage for negotiations with the Mechanicus (or even the opportunity to destroy it as heretical), an example being Morben the Devout's discovery of the Fornoth STC during the Icaria Crusade eventually resulting in the Mechanicus agreeing to grant the Ministorum exclusive use of the Immolator tank (Rhinos article, WD #269). One of the reasons for why AdMech has its own Explorator fleets operating independently.

Say they came here. We could be like that fake terra in horus rising or something:

There would be a massive international argument about who should host the delegation. This presumes that the first nation contacted didn't try to hide this in order to gain some sort of advantage through exclusivity. Most nations would recon the UN would be a good forum for this sort of thing but I bet one or two would try to argue they should speak for the planet because poor old Ban Ki-Moon couldn't handle all the excitement. (I'm looking at you USA). A few countries would either ignore the whole thing, threaten nuclear attack or declare some sort of holy war against the heathen space-people. Meanwhile a 7 foot man in power armour is waiting in orbit, his gaze moving back and forth between a clock and the red "go" button for the cyclonic torpedoes.

How long do you think he would wait? A day? Perhaps a week? Sooner or later it would become clear that they aren't talking to anything even vaguely resembling a unified planetary government and that forming one would take years. Before you know it a simple choice is broadcast around the globe. "Surrender to the inbound imperial guard regiments and embrace the glory of the God Emperor of Man, or die." Someone will take objection (North Korea fires a nuke or something) and suddenly that big red button goes *click*

Oh god.... what would the Mid East look like? At least in the US, once the orbital strikes destroy military bases (and we saw we were dealing with humans) we would shut up eventually. (Though plenty of people would fight a pathetic gurreila war that would just midly annoy the Imps)

middle east would be a hell hole no doubting that for the imperials, tho am sure they would just wipe them all out in the end as that is what the imps seem to do. The rest of us after putting up a half hearted fight would surrender within a couple of weeks give or take.

(About a week full scale war warfare as each countries army puts up a fight...then after the smaller ones have been beaten the larger one will sue for peace, then there will just be random bands of hit and run attackers and a few hold out areas left to clean up and then when there taken its all over.)

My view anyway

But he said the mid east. Since he is in the U.S. wouldn't that be Virginia and North and South Carolina?

 Aun Tier wrote:
Well, I'm not so sure Atheism would really be considered heretical to the Imperium. The planet wouldn't be punished for not knowing the Emperor existed (at least, probably not. ). So really, they would just educate them of his greatness. Alternatively, a separate religion could be viewed as worshipping false deities, and so could be in need of more oppressive re-education. Really, I don't think the Imperium would be as bothered with finding Atheist societies.

Reminds me of something in the Inquisitor War novels, where there was a maltheist world, which believed in the chaos gods, but rather than worshipping them, would ritually hate and reject them.

what would happen if the Imperials found a world that at one time belonged to the Imperium on the then edge of the realm and had been forgotten about in the chaos of the Heresy, they didn't worship the Emperor but held him up as the best of humanity and had kept most of the technology from back then. What would happen?

They would be ransacked for their technological knowledge by the Adeptus Mechanicus and converted to the Imperial Cult by the Ecclesiarchy. Imperial Guard would be quartered on their planet to maintain order until Arbites Precincts could be established and loyal PDF forces could be raised. Any resistance would be met with violence.

Really, it's no different than any other planet. Just because these people happen to know the truth about the Emperor, they're still heretics in the Imperium's eyes and would be forcibly converted.