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2013/01/07 14:48:10
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
The title basically says it all! Been thinking of some ideas for some stories that draw from this, so if anyone has any insight, please post it here. Just trying to get a feel for my limits
Anyone?
It isn't "fluff" - it's lore.
2013/01/07 16:45:03
Subject: Re:Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
I know that grav tanks were no big deal, advanced AI was common place, plasma weapons didn't explode ect. I read it somewhere years ago that some Tau says to another that even though human tech is a bit naff now, at it's height it far surpassed anything even they could think of.But that isn't the exact quote, as you can probably tell.
2013/01/07 17:12:10
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Sir Samuel Buca wrote: I know that grav tanks were no big deal, advanced AI was common place, plasma weapons didn't explode ect. I read it somewhere years ago that some Tau says to another that even though human tech is a bit naff now, at it's height it far surpassed anything even they could think of.But that isn't the exact quote, as you can probably tell.
I'd love to know where you might have read that - do you have any guess where that might have been?
It isn't "fluff" - it's lore.
2013/01/07 17:56:12
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Not advanced enough to have wiped out the Orcs, uncovered the secrets of the Necrons (and then wiped out the sleeping Necrons), finished off the Eldar, put a stop to the Dark Eldar or reaslised that the galaxy would soon be buried under an avalanche of Tyranids...
2013/01/07 18:38:06
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
They were more advanced than Tau now, with most of their own worlds being giant Hive Cities. Only the Eldar ( back then ) had more advanced tech and that is only because they were using wrathbone. You can find some info about that in 6'th edition rulebook, in a section about Dark Age of Technology. And following sources:
Spoiler:
M2: Realms of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned - Scientific advances of the third and subsequent millennia bring some knowledge of the Warp to humans. White Dwarf 140 (UK) - Mars terraformed. Galaxy In Flames page 410, by Ben Counter - Humanity begins to colonise the Sol System using conventional sub-light spacecraft. Colonies are established on Mars, and on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. This is the extent of Humanity's domains until M15. The Flight of the Eisenstein page 45, by James Swallow - Humanity uses Ohnyl Cylinders to spread beyond its own system, however, such colonies would not make contact with Terra millennia later.
M15: Space Marine by Ian Watson and Galaxy In Flames page 410, by Ben Counter - The Dark Age of Technology begins. Humanity begins to colonise the nearby star systems using conventional sub-light spacecraft. The new colonies must rely on local resources, and be completely self-sufficient in all vital areas in order to survive. Ten generations are needed to travel between the more distant of the new colonies and Terra. This continues until M18.
M18:
Galaxy In Flames page 410 - Dark Age of Technology: the Warp drive is invented which leads to a faster colonisation of the galaxy resulting in the founding of empires and federations. Humankind encounters the first Xenos and the first Alien Wars are fought out. Psykers begin to appear amongst the human population and are scientifically proven to exist.
M21:
Grey Hunter (Novel) by William King - The Great Diaspora - humans seek to remake galaxy in their own image, including seeding worlds with familiar animals.
M22:
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, Space Marine by Ian Watson and Galaxy in Flames page 410 by Ben Counter - The development of the navigator gene allows human pilots called Navigators to make longer and faster 'jumps' through the Warp than was previously thought possible. The great Navigator families, initially controlled by industrial and trading cartels, gradually become power bases in their own right. Humanity continues to explore and colonise the galaxy, while the human worlds politically unite and a golden age of scientific achievement begins. Non-aggression pacts are signed between humanity and dozen of alien races. Perfection of the Standard Template Construct (STC) system allows an almost explosive Human expansion to the stars. This Golden Age of Mankind continues until M25.
M25:
Space Marine by Ian Watson, White Dwarf 178 (UK) article The Titan Legions by Rick Priestley and Galaxy in Flames page 410 by Ben Counter - The Dark Age of Technology ends, and the Age of Strife begins. Terra and all Human colonies are gradually isolated from each other by the powerful warp storms that suddenly begin to rage throughout the galaxy. Warp travel along with interstellar trade consequently becomes increasingly difficult until all but impossible. The interdependency of human planets eventually breaks down entirely. Several Human worlds, including Terra, dependent on trade to feed their enormous populations enter a long period of revolt, anarchy, and civil war due to famine. Some even regress to barbarity. The rate of mutation increases dramatically throughout all Human worlds. Isolationism leads to the development of Abhumans. Several alien races, especially the Orks, take advantage of the situation to raid and plunder many of the Human colonies. Other colonies are conquered or completely destroyed. Some worlds are dominated by Human psykers and other mutants only to fall prey to Warp creatures, as Daemons appear possessing and/or consuming the weak and inexperienced psykers. Amid the confusion and chaos, the STC systems and knowledge about them are largely lost. Humanity is gradually pushed to the brink of annihilation.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/01/07 18:38:45
The universe has many horrors yet to throw at us. This is not the end of our struggle. This is just the beginning of our crusade to save Humanity. Be faithful! Be strong! Be vigilant!
2013/01/07 18:49:26
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
See all of this is downright fascinating to me, lol. I get that the Emperor didn't fully grasp the technology behind the Golden Throne...but wait. The Golden Throne was made during the Dark Age of Technology? I never considered the implications of that. Why was it made back then? *looks at the lexicanicum* Apparently it says that the Emperor himself built it so humans wouldn't need to rely on warp travel any longer by way of using Eldar Webway gates o.o I guess you mean he left a lot of the construction work to others, perhaps a lot of the hard stuff left to his brightest. But it also says that to connect this portal to the Webway, he needed to send armies of humans to basically mine their way through to the rest of the Webway from the point of that portal entry? Good lord. If the Webway was so physical, how did the Old Ones manage to create SO much of it? A galactic spanning tunnel network seems to be a bit more work than the wall of China. But I digress, fascinating as though it is.
The Emperor was clearly a scientist, but perhaps spent most of his time in other pursuits (maybe he didn't want humanity to develop faster than it could handle. Not a terrible notion). So of course the Golden Throne might be amongst one of the greatest achievements of humanity, but is it the limit? For that matter, exactly when WAS it made?
EDIT: Doing this over my phone is too slow - I already got a few more responses by the time I finally finished writing this.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/07 18:51:58
It isn't "fluff" - it's lore.
2013/01/07 18:54:40
Subject: Re:Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
The Golden Throne wasn't put together till the Emperor had unified Terra, and indeed he never finished it. Its possable he had been collecting the parts for a long time.
The whole point was so that mankind could use the Webway instead of Warp Travel. Unfortunately Magnus broke that section of the Webway when he warned the Emperor of Horus's treachery and Daemons came flooding in.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
The Emperor was clearly a scientist, but perhaps spent most of his time in other pursuits (maybe he didn't want humanity to develop faster than it could handle. Not a terrible notion). So of course the Golden Throne might be among one of the greatest achievements of humanity, but is it the limit? For that matter, exactly when WAS it made?
I also believe this, to create Astartes, Primarchs, Custodes and all their equipment without Mechanicus you had to be quite smart. If fluff is to be believed Emperor started to build Golden Throne and Webway after he made Horus Warmaster and returned to Terra.
The whole point was so that mankind could use the Webway instead of Warp Travel. Unfortunately Magnus broke that section of the Webway when he warned the Emperor of Horus's treachery and Daemons came flooding in.
About this, why didn't the Emperor close the Webway gate but instead choose to put a barrier on it?
Why not just break it and start building somewhere else? This was Terra is in danger of being overrun by daemons if those barrier ever fail.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/07 19:00:38
The universe has many horrors yet to throw at us. This is not the end of our struggle. This is just the beginning of our crusade to save Humanity. Be faithful! Be strong! Be vigilant!
2013/01/07 19:01:34
Subject: Re:Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Probably because he could fix it eventually. Its just Horus threw a wrench in the works.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
I always though that humans during the time of the Dark Age of Technology rivaled the Eldar in trems of tech not surpasing maybe, but it was up there. In the book Grey Knights Omnibus I think in the first or second story (can't remember which one and I can't find the book right now) They found the Father of all titans and it made even Eldar titans look like a joke next to it. The main character discribes the titan has having muscle fibers that flowed like real muscles. To some it all up the thing moved like a living creature of course the STC in the titan or its AI was a demon and the the father of all titans was on a demon forge world. So they of course destoryed it.
2013/01/07 19:22:59
Subject: Re:Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Mankind was close to the Eldar in terms of technology.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Gunhead1 wrote: I always though that humans during the time of the Dark Age of Technology rivaled the Eldar in trems of tech not surpasing maybe, but it was up there. In the book Grey Knights Omnibus I think in the first or second story (can't remember which one and I can't find the book right now) They found the Father of all titans and it made even Eldar titans look like a joke next to it. The main character discribes the titan has having muscle fibers that flowed like real muscles. To some it all up the thing moved like a living creature of course the STC in the titan or its AI was a demon and the the father of all titans was on a demon forge world. So they of course destoryed it.
The Edlar codex makes it pretty clear that nothing in the galaxy came close to their ancient empire. Regarding Dark Age tech, well, much of it is still in use. Voidshields, warpdrives, teelportation devices, plasma and lasweapons and much more. The main difference might be attitude and the ability to recreate technology.
2013/01/07 19:27:48
Subject: Re:Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Sir Samuel Buca wrote: I know that grav tanks were no big deal, advanced AI was common place, plasma weapons didn't explode ect. I read it somewhere years ago that some Tau says to another that even though human tech is a bit naff now, at it's height it far surpassed anything even they could think of.But that isn't the exact quote, as you can probably tell.
I'd love to know where you might have read that - do you have any guess where that might have been?
This was a few years ago now, it might have been in an old Tau codex, maybe an old rulebook, or more likely an old WD. I could be totally imagining it though.
2013/01/07 19:33:01
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Ok thought so, now I have heard that during this time the Orks gave humantiy one hard time in fact humantiy almost lost that war did this happen after the Men of Iron. Because to me that is the only reason besides a Warboss uniting all of the Orks to cause humantiy so much trouble at the height of its powers
Gunhead1 wrote: I always though that humans during the time of the Dark Age of Technology rivaled the Eldar in trems of tech not surpasing maybe, but it was up there. In the book Grey Knights Omnibus I think in the first or second story (can't remember which one and I can't find the book right now) They found the Father of all titans and it made even Eldar titans look like a joke next to it. The main character discribes the titan has having muscle fibers that flowed like real muscles. To some it all up the thing moved like a living creature of course the STC in the titan or its AI was a demon and the the father of all titans was on a demon forge world. So they of course destoryed it.
The Edlar codex makes it pretty clear that nothing in the galaxy came close to their ancient empire. Regarding Dark Age tech, well, much of it is still in use. Voidshields, warpdrives, teelportation devices, plasma and lasweapons and much more. The main difference might be attitude and the ability to recreate technology.
Yeah, but that is an older codex from my understanding and most of the STC that humantiy has now are imcomplete like plasma etc. etc.
Also in the book when the main character is talking to the demon AI it says that he designed it not humans (if I remember correctly).
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/07 19:38:05
2013/01/07 19:47:47
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Brother Captain Alexander wrote: They were more advanced than Tau now, with most of their own worlds being giant Hive Cities. Only the Eldar ( back then ) had more advanced tech and that is only because they were using wrathbone. You can find some info about that in 6'th edition rulebook, in a section about Dark Age of Technology. And following sources:
Spoiler:
M2:
Realms of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned - Scientific advances of the third and subsequent millennia bring some knowledge of the Warp to humans.
White Dwarf 140 (UK) - Mars terraformed.
Galaxy In Flames page 410, by Ben Counter - Humanity begins to colonise the Sol System using conventional sub-light spacecraft. Colonies are established on Mars, and on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. This is the extent of Humanity's domains until M15.
The Flight of the Eisenstein page 45, by James Swallow - Humanity uses Ohnyl Cylinders to spread beyond its own system, however, such colonies would not make contact with Terra millennia later.
M15:
Space Marine by Ian Watson and Galaxy In Flames page 410, by Ben Counter - The Dark Age of Technology begins. Humanity begins to colonise the nearby star systems using conventional sub-light spacecraft. The new colonies must rely on local resources, and be completely self-sufficient in all vital areas in order to survive. Ten generations are needed to travel between the more distant of the new colonies and Terra. This continues until M18.
M18:
Galaxy In Flames page 410 - Dark Age of Technology: the Warp drive is invented which leads to a faster colonisation of the galaxy resulting in the founding of empires and federations. Humankind encounters the first Xenos and the first Alien Wars are fought out. Psykers begin to appear amongst the human population and are scientifically proven to exist.
M21:
Grey Hunter (Novel) by William King - The Great Diaspora - humans seek to remake galaxy in their own image, including seeding worlds with familiar animals.
M22:
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, Space Marine by Ian Watson and Galaxy in Flames page 410 by Ben Counter - The development of the navigator gene allows human pilots called Navigators to make longer and faster 'jumps' through the Warp than was previously thought possible. The great Navigator families, initially controlled by industrial and trading cartels, gradually become power bases in their own right. Humanity continues to explore and colonise the galaxy, while the human worlds politically unite and a golden age of scientific achievement begins. Non-aggression pacts are signed between humanity and dozen of alien races. Perfection of the Standard Template Construct (STC) system allows an almost explosive Human expansion to the stars. This Golden Age of Mankind continues until M25.
M25:
Space Marine by Ian Watson, White Dwarf 178 (UK) article The Titan Legions by Rick Priestley and
Galaxy in Flames page 410 by Ben Counter - The Dark Age of Technology ends, and the Age of Strife begins. Terra and all Human colonies are gradually isolated from each other by the powerful warp storms that suddenly begin to rage throughout the galaxy. Warp travel along with interstellar trade consequently becomes increasingly difficult until all but impossible. The interdependency of human planets eventually breaks down entirely. Several Human worlds, including Terra, dependent on trade to feed their enormous populations enter a long period of revolt, anarchy, and civil war due to famine. Some even regress to barbarity. The rate of mutation increases dramatically throughout all Human worlds. Isolationism leads to the development of Abhumans. Several alien races, especially the Orks, take advantage of the situation to raid and plunder many of the Human colonies. Other colonies are conquered or completely destroyed. Some worlds are dominated by Human psykers and other mutants only to fall prey to Warp creatures, as Daemons appear possessing and/or consuming the weak and inexperienced psykers. Amid the confusion and chaos, the STC systems and knowledge about them are largely lost. Humanity is gradually pushed to the brink of annihilation.
Bloody great post sir, thank you! It caused me to look up a good deal of stuff (still is, in fact). The Men of Iron are as usual terribly interesting but apparently the only info on them save for the lexicanicum are pages and pages of theories from other 40k forums that only guess at what they were about (probably good guesses, but still).
@Sir Samuel - I'm sure you're not; it seems to me everyone's in agreement that you're right
@KingDeath - How certain are you that at least *some* humans in the Dark Age of Technology didn't surpass the Eldar in some ways? Or at the least, don't you think it's reasonable that a scant few creations explored types of inventions that the Eldar would never have cared to explore, on the whole?
Anyway I just am left to wonder what were some of their greatest achievements. I know that they were probably somewhere in between Tau and Eldar, but does that mean that in some cases they may have come up with things that the Eldar never used?? THOSE few sort of instances seriously interest me given 40k lore, so I just want to know if you guys think it's possible they may have even surpassed them in some cases (read: very, very few). Anyone?
It isn't "fluff" - it's lore.
2013/01/07 21:22:38
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
@KingDeath - How certain are you that at least *some* humans in the Dark Age of Technology didn't surpass the Eldar in some ways? Or at the least, don't you think it's reasonable that a scant few creations explored types of inventions that the Eldar would never have cared to explore, on the whole?
Anyway I just am left to wonder what were some of their greatest achievements. I know that they were probably somewhere in between Tau and Eldar, but does that mean that in some cases they may have come up with things that the Eldar never used?? THOSE few sort of instances seriously interest me given 40k lore, so I just want to know if you guys think it's possible they may have even surpassed them in some cases (read: very, very few). Anyone?
Since we have very little knowledge about he Dark Age of Technology and even less about the ancient Eldar Empire ( except that it was extremely powerful and enabled it's citizens to live a luxurious life without manual labour ) it is downright impossible to say if there were some areas where human technology outclassed eldar technology. All we can say from the current fluff is that the ancient Eldar knew no equal and that much knowledge was lost in the Fall.
2013/01/07 21:23:18
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Well for comparison the Eldar were at the height of their near mythical empire in the DAoT, and humanity is still said to have conquered a huge amount of the galaxy.
We know that humanity's army was made up of the 'men of iron' which were sentient battle robots (seriously didn't the movie the terminator make it to the 18th millenium?). In one of the gaunt's ghosts novels he even runs across a STC template that creates them but found them corrupted by chaos and it is speculated that sentience of any kind can ultimately be corrupted which might explain why they went all crazy on their masters.
The crown jewel of course was the STC which was a machine that not only build anything in it's database but actually create new designs based on the users' needs. Hell all that exists in the 40k timeline are just templates, not even the machine itself, and humanity has endured with those for perspective on how good humans' knowledge was at the time.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/07 21:29:03
@KingDeath - How certain are you that at least *some* humans in the Dark Age of Technology didn't surpass the Eldar in some ways? Or at the least, don't you think it's reasonable that a scant few creations explored types of inventions that the Eldar would never have cared to explore, on the whole?
Anyway I just am left to wonder what were some of their greatest achievements. I know that they were probably somewhere in between Tau and Eldar, but does that mean that in some cases they may have come up with things that the Eldar never used?? THOSE few sort of instances seriously interest me given 40k lore, so I just want to know if you guys think it's possible they may have even surpassed them in some cases (read: very, very few). Anyone?
Since we have very little knowledge about he Dark Age of Technology and even less about the ancient Eldar Empire ( except that it was extremely powerful and enabled it's citizens to live a luxurious life without manual labour ) it is downright impossible to say if there were some areas where human technology outclassed eldar technology. All we can say from the current fluff is that the ancient Eldar knew no equal and that much knowledge was lost in the Fall.
So you're saying for all we know, it's possible! That is simply excellent I just wanted to make sure. Don't worry I'm not going to write anything about humanity being able to kick the Eldar's ass but they just didn't want to; the opposite must be entirely true. There were still a crap ton of planets out there and I'm sure if any developed anything to rival Eldar tech then it would have been fairly isolated and not widespread in any way. Forgot what else I was about to write about that just now but I'm in a rush to get to school :|
buddha wrote:Well for comparison the Eldar were at the height of their near mythical empire in the DAoT, and humanity is still said to have conquered a huge amount of the galaxy.
We know that humanity's army was made up of the 'men of iron' which were sentient battle robots (seriously didn't the movie the terminator make it to the 18th millenium?). In one of the gaunt's ghosts novels he even runs across a STC template that creates them but found them corrupted by chaos and it is speculated that sentience of any kind can ultimately be corrupted which might explain why they went all crazy on their masters.
The crown jewel of course was the STC which was a machine that not only build anything in it's database but actually create new designs based on the users' needs. Hell all that exists in the 40k timeline are just templates, not even the machine itself, and humanity has endured with those for perspective on how good humans' knowledge was at the time.
...the men of iron really were THAT widespread?? I had no idea humanity used them to such a great extent. I understand why GW downplays this a bit but I'd love some clarification; have any good non-lexicanicum sources so I can learn more about them? How did you find this out about them?
KamikazeCanuck wrote:The Dark Age of Technology was a "post-labour" society. People wanted for nothing and didn't have to do anything for themselves.
....I LOVE that. God that's so perfect for highlighting the tragedy of the modern day Imperium. It's probably my favorite theme - how they had so much and now only so very little. On this sort of scale it's not something we think about as ever being possible. But anyway, where did you hear about this?
Ross74H wrote:Far more than they are now. Didnt even a pants tank like the Russ have void shields or have I read that wrong?
Forget where I saw it now!
That stinks because I'd love to hear more about it! Hah.
It isn't "fluff" - it's lore.
2013/01/08 19:32:45
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Outside of the fluff itself, in the real world the original rouge trader, which came out in 1987, borrowed very, very, very heavily and liberally from dune. One of the things shoehorned in where the "thinking machines" that were fought long in the past with the Butlerian Crusade to explain why advanced computers weren't present in the setting (and thus adding to the grim darkness). These were translated to the 'Men of Iron" and the age of darkness respectively, at least in the beginning before GW began fleshing out its own story.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/08 19:40:12
@Netsurfer: It makes a good contrast for the modern day Imperium but it also the cause of it. Because life was so easy Humanity lost the knowledge of how to do anything for themselves. They became like a child race. When the rug was pulled out from under them they fell hard because of that.
2013/01/09 01:31:00
Subject: Re:Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
KamikazeCanuck wrote: @Netsurfer: It makes a good contrast for the modern day Imperium but it also the cause of it. Because life was so easy Humanity lost the knowledge of how to do anything for themselves. They became like a child race. When the rug was pulled out from under them they fell hard because of that.
Being a student going for a 2nd bachelor's degree (first in math, now in engineering), I can understand this better than most, lmao... It's actually a scary thought as to how possible this may be some day. I just somehow didn't think that on top of all the terrible things that happened, and how *current* day humans basically didn't know how anything worked, I didn't think to realize that their ancestors may have become just as complacent as well, but for entirely different reasons. Can't thank you enough for your post - but you must show me your evidence for how these things are canon!
@buddha - I think I remember hearing something about how 40k drew from dune, but I also heard how it draws from many other sources of inspiration as well, and in the best of ways. Also by the time of the 'Men of Iron' idea, hadn't GW fleshed out its own story a very great deal?
Anyway to stay on topic - what is the single most incredible invention you guys have ever come across that came out of the Dark Age of Technology? Anything more so than Warp Drive, Teleportation, Void Shields or Vortex missiles?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/09 01:32:57
It isn't "fluff" - it's lore.
2013/01/09 22:47:00
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
The best thing IMO from the DAOT was the STC. If you've ever driven junker cars for an length of time and done repairs to them yourself you'll completely understand why I say this.
Having a machine I tell to build me a new car every year would be AMAZING!!!
2013/01/10 01:07:31
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
Chancetragedy wrote: The best thing IMO from the DAOT was the STC. If you've ever driven junker cars for an length of time and done repairs to them yourself you'll completely understand why I say this.
Having a machine I tell to build me a new car every year would be AMAZING!!!
Because they're easy to upgrade and modify...? (I've no idea if that's true or not, lol)
It isn't "fluff" - it's lore.
2013/01/10 06:17:50
Subject: Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
AFAIK, Human technology during the Golden Age of Technology was surpassed only by the Eldar due their use of the Webway and psychic technology. Otherwise, the Human technology was on par if not superior to theirs; this may or may not have been the result of passive influence from a Star God imprisoned by the Emperor on Mars (which in turn implies Golden Age Human technology is actually Necron technology passively but efficiently modified for Human use).
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/10 06:18:08
"In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same"
2013/01/10 17:32:15
Subject: Re:Just how advanced may humanity have been in the Dark Age of Technology?
I get the impression from the fluff of various sources that the technology the imperium uses today is similar to that used in the dark age of technology. the differences i guess would be in how widespread it was, and how reliable and easy to produce it would have been. much of the knowledge to produce things was lost for a variety of reasons when humanity was pushed to the brink, and some relics of that time are still in service.
If you can imagine plasma guns being a standard firearm (and not the blow up in your face kind, either), and power armour and refractor fields being standard issue to ground forces, and those groundforces undergoing some kind of 'upgrade' (perhaps not as extensive an upgrade as space marines) and those troops being supported by grav tanks with a variety of fearsome weapons. and you kind of get a slight impression of where the military forces were then, and where they are now.
You also get the impression that stuff from back then was built to last, seriously, 10,000 year old tanks, and planes, and spaceships, where 'current' 21st century gear has, generally, a 25-50 year lifespan.
When the realm of man collapsed, and interstellar trade collapsed, worlds would have had to fall back on their own resources, adopt more primative weapons, and despite the current imperium being galaxy spanning, some of those weapons are still really damned impressive. the numberless imperial guard have laser guns for example, and power packs you can recharge by simply tossing them into a fire!
If i had to think of a reasonable comparison to make, i would say humanity at its peak would be sort of a cross between the Republic from star wars, and the Republic of Haven from the Haven from the Honorverse
The universe has many horrors yet to throw at us. This is not the end of our struggle. This is just the beginning of our crusade to save Humanity. Be faithful! Be strong! Be vigilant! 
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