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If you're going to organize the galaxy into bitesized pieces for conquest as any self respecting terran empire might, why would you have 3 moderately large bits and then (ultima) one massive bit?

Also why divide like they have instead of neat lines or along individual arms? It seems very haphazard.



http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090226111634/warhammer40k/images/1/17/Wh40k_starmap.jpg

Because space is not uniform to put it plainly, but also it's 40k, and what would be the fun if it made sense.

They're not like the Star Trek Quadrant feature. They're closer to the Star Wars galaxy, with uneven sized regions based on how they were colonized during different timeframes.

Because its space, it isn't made up of neat lines and perfectly laid out segments. Haphazard is a great way of describing how humanity has spread out across the galaxy, there's nothing organized about it. Also, because Grimdark.

Why is Texas bigger then Missouri? Same reason.

 Harriticus wrote:
Why is Texas bigger then Missouri? Same reason.

What they said^^

plus you have to remember your looking at the segmentums from a "birds eye" point of view from the top down. Space isn't gridded out or flat or uniform.

Iirc the warp also has to do something with the way segmentums are divided. If its still managable with astropaths, navigators etc there isnt much reason to add yet another bureaucratic layer, which only hinders further efficiency. Each segmentum is about as strong as the next one, dividing them up would also upset the balance of power which gives bad memories like the horus heresy. Segmentum command doesnt really get involved into small matters either, its just there to react to large threats like massive waaghs or splinter fleets. Even a segmentum is way too big to govern, sector level seems to work best.

Take a look outside at all those stars in the sky. Do they look neatly organised, or does it look like God just flecked his brush at the canvas? There's your answer

Because Ross Perot said so.


You don't believe me? I DON'T CARE!

But jokes aside, honestly, we dont really have a reason IC. Mostly,t hey just think it looks cool on the map.

Well.... At the start of the great crusade when the legions were conquering the galaxy, the Emperor felt he needed to set some boundaries, so each Legion had a Segmentum.

19 Legions shared Pacificus, Tempestus, obscuras, and solar
And
The Ultramarines got Ultima because there... Well... Awesome. Right?

 Eetion wrote:
Well.... At the start of the great crusade when the legions were conquering the galaxy, the Emperor felt he needed to set some boundaries, so each Legion had a Segmentum.

19 Legions shared Pacificus, Tempestus, obscuras, and solar
And
The Ultramarines got Ultima because there... Well... Awesome. Right?

One more time. I love SM's, but I do hate those smurfs.

Why aren't continents the same size? Why isn't Russia the same size as Belgium?

Natural, political and many other reasons would split just about anything up into uneven, ad-hoc boundaries.

Here's an interesting thought that might actually hold some fluff weight. Imagine, if you will, segments being mapped by way of landmark planets or other space entities, such as dwarf stars and so on. Kind of like a galactic border. Now bear in mind that most of these lines would have been mapped and decided either during the Great Crusade or shortly after the Heresy.

...now remember that the universe is constantly expanding, and not at a perfectly constant rate in all directions. Also bear in mind that the Warp will have further skewed the physical realm. 10,000 years accounts for a LOT of change.

 Super Ready wrote:


...now remember that the universe is constantly expanding, and not at a perfectly constant rate in all directions. Also bear in mind that the Warp will have further skewed the physical realm. 10,000 years accounts for a LOT of change.

The universe is expanding, the Milky Way galaxy isn't.

a little offtopic question but, why is the centaurus arm completely deserted on the map?

Everywhere else there are significant planets. I know the Sautehks and Alaitoc are there but are there really no major imperial establishments there?

China y you so big? Belgium y you so small?

Individual segments will have their own fluff and history, you should read up on it.

 Crimson wrote:
The universe is expanding, the Milky Way galaxy isn't.

Perhaps not now, but in the year 30,000...? (Genuine question - I'd be interested to know if there's any budding astronomers or the like that know.)

Ten or 40 thousand years is nothing in galactic time scale. The galaxy will be pretty much as it is today.

 Crimson wrote:
Ten or 40 thousand years is nothing in galactic time scale. The galaxy will be pretty much as it is today.

This, basically. It would take millions of years for there to be any notable effect that's meaningfully different from how things are now.

Well, I hear 'look at the size of these countries' (which is caused by various civilizations or varying political and economic power over a couple of thousand years) or 'look at the various continents' (which is geographical).

The galaxy is a vaguely circular shape, it was being mapped and divided up by one civilization, I don't get why they wouldn't have divided it along equally sized portions, it's not like they were exploring it a bit at a time with no idea how big it was or what shape, we've known that for a long time.

I don't get why it's divided as it is, when some form of pie slice or 'so many millions of square miles per section' would have made more sense. Especially as then you get 'each Segmentum has a principal starport' which means Ultima must be screwed by having to use the same resources and administratum divides as the other much smaller segmentums.

Also, bare in mind that right from the start the imperium was designed to be made up of self sufficient worlds, and it's only become more so from there. As such, you don't need so much of an equal distribution of area, since each planet and are takes care of itself. You're not having to deploy task forces from Terra to take care of problems; each planet, sector and segmentum has its own resources.

This combined with the fact that most sectors are probably broken up along lines of resources or warp space lanes, etc... means that you wouldn't expect them to be equally sized.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
I don't get why it's divided as it is

I presume it's divided that way as a matter of administration rather than navigation (since navigation happens in the Warp anyway). The smaller segmenta are more heavily populated. The larger ones are less heavily populated. As has already been implied ITT.

I think Manchu is right on the population thing. Pacificus is huge, but it's also fairly sparsely populated with Imperial worlds compared to Solar and Obscurus.

Segmentum Solar is centered on Terra and the other four were built in a rough circle around it. Since earth, and therefore Segmentum Solar, are close to the edge of the galaxy, Ultima Segmentum had be be much bigger than the others in order to have it span the galaxy the way the Imperium is supposed to.

 Manchu wrote:

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
I don't get why it's divided as it is

I presume it's divided that way as a matter of administration rather than navigation (since navigation happens in the Warp anyway). The smaller segmenta are more heavily populated. The larger ones are less heavily populated. As has already been implied ITT.

That would make sense I suppose, it was the last area to be conquered in the crusade I think and it's often portrayed as the untamed 'wild west' of the galaxy. (I know, it's the galactic East but still).

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Well, I hear 'look at the size of these countries' (which is caused by various civilizations or varying political and economic power over a couple of thousand years) or 'look at the various continents' (which is geographical).

The galaxy is a vaguely circular shape, it was being mapped and divided up by one civilization, I don't get why they wouldn't have divided it along equally sized portions, it's not like they were exploring it a bit at a time with no idea how big it was or what shape, we've known that for a long time.

I don't get why it's divided as it is, when some form of pie slice or 'so many millions of square miles per section' would have made more sense. Especially as then you get 'each Segmentum has a principal starport' which means Ultima must be screwed by having to use the same resources and administratum divides as the other much smaller segmentums.

Well, Texas and Oklahoma were formed less than a quarter-century apart by the same civilization - why are they such different sizes?

Millennia of gerrymandering from the Imperial Senate.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Well, I hear 'look at the size of these countries' (which is caused by various civilizations or varying political and economic power over a couple of thousand years) or 'look at the various continents' (which is geographical).

The galaxy is a vaguely circular shape, it was being mapped and divided up by one civilization, I don't get why they wouldn't have divided it along equally sized portions, it's not like they were exploring it a bit at a time with no idea how big it was or what shape, we've known that for a long time.

I don't get why it's divided as it is, when some form of pie slice or 'so many millions of square miles per section' would have made more sense. Especially as then you get 'each Segmentum has a principal starport' which means Ultima must be screwed by having to use the same resources and administratum divides as the other much smaller segmentums.

Concentration of Imperial territories?

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Well, I hear 'look at the size of these countries' (which is caused by various civilizations or varying political and economic power over a couple of thousand years) or 'look at the various continents' (which is geographical).

The galaxy is a vaguely circular shape, it was being mapped and divided up by one civilization, I don't get why they wouldn't have divided it along equally sized portions, it's not like they were exploring it a bit at a time with no idea how big it was or what shape, we've known that for a long time.

I don't get why it's divided as it is, when some form of pie slice or 'so many millions of square miles per section' would have made more sense. Especially as then you get 'each Segmentum has a principal starport' which means Ultima must be screwed by having to use the same resources and administratum divides as the other much smaller segmentums.

We, on 21st Century Earth, know that the Milky Way is roughly circular and so many light-years across. The world of 40K (even the world of 30K) does not know this. The pre-Imperium human colony-worlds have been lost for millennia, and Terra, itself, was a blasted wasteland of techno-barbarians. The knowledge that we take for granted now has not been in human possession for thousands and thousands of years by the time the Great Crusade kicked off.

Also, within a given Segmentum, there are vast tracts of space that Humans never go to. There's no stable Warp-routes to get there. This is why the AdMech have Explorator Fleets, and why many Rogue Traders do what they do. Their mission is to just choose some space, and fly to it. The slow way, or by doing short-range Warp-jumps and hoping they get lucky and dropped out in some part of space no one has been to before. To see what's there. Might be rich mining worlds. Might be a pre-Imperial human world. Might be a Xenos empire. Won't know 'til we get there.