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 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I would SWEAR this was in an old Epic book but I've never been able to find it.

Failed Space Marine aspriants are turned into servitors and permanently installed in Rhinos and other vehicles as driver and gunner servitors.

(additional head canon) Particularly distinguished ones are given the honorary rank of battle brother and allowed to wear marine armor. Other vehicle commanders are heavily injured marines who can no long fight on foot.

So all those guys poking out of hatches, they're honorary marines, and probably don't have legs.

No one is going to waste a fully able-bodied marine manning a tank.

I remember a book where the captain of a strike cruiser was a SM that had lost his arms and legs, being hard-wired into the ship to forever function as its captain. So I too think this was official at some point.

Also, putting two or three zero's after every number given by GW. 1000 guardsmen in one regiment? How about 100.000, just not buying the one regiment as reinforcement or whatever thing succeeding.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Brian, that's not far off. Canonically the Mechanicus catechisms and hymns are all user manuals and construction manuals for various things, because the Mechanicum-as-religion rose from the survivors of the Fall turning all their knowledge into an oral tradition to make sure it survived the database corruptions.

yeah, I belive it, I know it's the case with a similer faction in another table top war game. a man solved a technical problem with a complex machine easily because "I enjoy listening to the old chants. you can learn a lot of you pay attention to whats actually being said"

 Crimson wrote:

 Ashiraya wrote:
I think the reason Marines have such large fleets is so that they can fight well against enemy fleets impeding their work. As they are a rapid strike force, they cannot rely on the ponderous Navy to cover that aspect, so they have their own ships (bombardment cannons!) to deter any such interference.

Sure, but I prefer the focus to be on the actual marines, the ground forces. Besides, I'd assume that their ships are relatively powerful for their size; Gladius frigate is like Defiant in Star Trek, capable of taking on much larger (and clumsier) ships.

I guess that is another case in which I will partially agree.

 Vankraken wrote:
Heres my head cannon for one of the primarchs.

"I like to think that one of the Primarchs ended up on an Ork world and fought his way up the ranks to end up as a Warboss (typical Blood Axes, having an umie as a boss). The Emperor shows up to collect him but soon discovered that Ork tradition runs deep. After a while all the WAAAGHs, looting, and calling the other Primarchs gitz pushed the Emperior's patience to the limit. The Wolves where called to end Warmarch Viridius Corium and his Astorkes. The Emperor declared that all records to be purged and usage of the word "git" by any Astartes to be punishable by death."

This made my day.

Cegorach = Deceiver and it's part of some long "all as planned" con.

Space Marines aren't nearly as great as they're portrayed to be. They're pretty good sure, but they're semi-elite poster boys at best. Instead of thousands during the heresy, there were millions, hence their effectiveness. They also aren't as tall as they say. They're only about as bulky as a football player in their armor. Call this favoritism towards the guard, but I've always seen SM as extremely OP, especially at 9 feet tall.

 Chef_of_Cadia wrote:
Space Marines aren't nearly as great as they're portrayed to be. They're pretty good sure, but they're semi-elite poster boys at best. Instead of thousands during the heresy, there were millions, hence their effectiveness. They also aren't as tall as they say. They're only about as bulky as a football player in their armor. Call this favoritism towards the guard, but I've always seen SM as extremely OP, especially at 9 feet tall.

that's kinda the point of marines.

 Chef_of_Cadia wrote:
Space Marines aren't nearly as great as they're portrayed to be. They're pretty good sure, but they're semi-elite poster boys at best. Instead of thousands during the heresy, there were millions, hence their effectiveness. They also aren't as tall as they say. They're only about as bulky as a football player in their armor. Call this favoritism towards the guard, but I've always seen SM as extremely OP, especially at 9 feet tall.

if we're basing the height thing on the models, does that mean cadians have comically over-sized heads and hands

 Crimson wrote:

 Brennonjw wrote:
My headcannon: Guilliman was one of the most diabolical traitors of the heresy. Without being long winded: his legion was delayed just enough to ensure that the emperor + other legions would die or be crippled by horus at tera, then he swoops in, outnumbering them all with his arguably forced control of the imperial army and navy, DEMANDING his brothers bow to his ideals (his beef with the Alpha legion, BTW ). Thankfully for him, the only primarch with the political backing to stop him(sanguinius) happened to die shortly before guilliman arrived. Point in case: the Imperial fists (the legion arguably the next step down in political power) was fired upon for resisting this enforced ideal. Guilliman for archtraitor 30,000!

It's more in depth than that, but this is a bit of a tl;dr version.

I like this! Fits how he formed Codex Astartes and forced the Legions to disband, only to give his own chapter a small empire to rule.

Ha, yeah. We had a discussion about this when Unremembered Empire came out. What if it was in fact Guilliman who was waiting for the outcome of the Heresy to make his move and not the Lion like the story goes.

the "power grab" theory falls apart when you ask why a man who had the largest legion would split them up.

my personal theory is the codex and the division etc where done as a comprimise and the rest of the high lords had initally wanted to disband the Legions.

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I would SWEAR this was in an old Epic book but I've never been able to find it.

Failed Space Marine aspriants are turned into servitors and permanently installed in Rhinos and other vehicles as driver and gunner servitors.

(additional head canon) Particularly distinguished ones are given the honorary rank of battle brother and allowed to wear marine armor. Other vehicle commanders are heavily injured marines who can no long fight on foot.

So all those guys poking out of hatches, they're honorary marines, and probably don't have legs.

No one is going to waste a fully able-bodied marine manning a tank.

I remember a book where the captain of a strike cruiser was a SM that had lost his arms and legs, being hard-wired into the ship to forever function as its captain. So I too think this was official at some point.

Depending on the author but some IN captains at least are hardwired into their ships (regardless of limbs remaining)
As for failed Asiprants they also serve as the crews aboard SM ships seeing as it would be a massive drain on an already limited pool if the chapters had to use marines ot man their ships

Personal Headcanon: Yarrick is the true prophet of the WAAAAAGH! and will eventually kill Ghazzy in combat and take over the horde as it's new warboss. Then he will lead the Great WAAAGH! into the eye of terror and conquer chaos finally.

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I would SWEAR this was in an old Epic book but I've never been able to find it.

Failed Space Marine aspriants are turned into servitors and permanently installed in Rhinos and other vehicles as driver and gunner servitors.

(additional head canon) Particularly distinguished ones are given the honorary rank of battle brother and allowed to wear marine armor. Other vehicle commanders are heavily injured marines who can no long fight on foot.

So all those guys poking out of hatches, they're honorary marines, and probably don't have legs.

No one is going to waste a fully able-bodied marine manning a tank.

I remember a book where the captain of a strike cruiser was a SM that had lost his arms and legs, being hard-wired into the ship to forever function as its captain. So I too think this was official at some point.

Depending on the author but some IN captains at least are hardwired into their ships (regardless of limbs remaining)
As for failed Asiprants they also serve as the crews aboard SM ships seeing as it would be a massive drain on an already limited pool if the chapters had to use marines ot man their ships

Yes, but it is rare in the current fluff to not give Marines replacement limbs as they are a valuable commodity, even if they almost have exclusive ship duty. Wasn't one of GW's Marine models a master of the fleet (or whatever the title was).
It depends on the Chapter in question what happens to failed aspirants. Usually failed aspirants don't survive their failure to crew ships and Chapters have dedicated serfs for these sorts of duties. It would be impossible to crew ships otherwise based on crew size alone, Marines on board usually function as boarding protection and/or captain.

My Night Lords are actual vampires. In the old Rogue Trader rulebook there was a brief blurb about vampires existing in the 40k universe. It has since been retconned out through omission, so I guess that makes it head cannon. My NL warband abhorred the corruption that chaos was starting to inflict on their bodies and minds, so they set out looking for a cure or halt to their corruption. They found it in the form of the vampire virus/curse. It makes for fun modeling opportunities. Vargheists are much cooler looking than spawn models.

 Brennonjw wrote:
My headcannon: Guilliman was one of the most diabolical traitors of the heresy. Without being long winded: his legion was delayed just enough to ensure that the emperor + other legions would die or be crippled by horus at tera, then he swoops in, outnumbering them all with his arguably forced control of the imperial army and navy, DEMANDING his brothers bow to his ideals (his beef with the Alpha legion, BTW ). Thankfully for him, the only primarch with the political backing to stop him(sanguinius) happened to die shortly before guilliman arrived. Point in case: the Imperial fists (the legion arguably the next step down in political power) was fired upon for resisting this enforced ideal. Guilliman for archtraitor 30,000!

It's more in depth than that, but this is a bit of a tl;dr version.

Here's more fuel for it.
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Imperium_Secundus

Just a few off the top of my head:


1) Asirnoth, the creature Ferrus Manus defeated and gave him his iron hands, was actually a shard of the Void Dragon. The living metal that bound itself to Ferrus had caused a genetic flaw in his geneseed, which was the catalyst for his sons' obsession with bionics and their belief that "the flesh is weak". In his later days, Ferrus had become suspicious of his sons' fanaticism, and was going to put an end to their reliance on bionics before Fulgrim's treachery took his attention from the matter.

2) The film Event Horizon is a prequel to the 40k universe.

3) Tyranids have been in the Milky Way for millions of years, but never had a reason to invade the galaxy en-masse until the creation of the Astronomican.

4) Many tales of the supernatural, demonic possessions, and urban legends throughout history are true, and are representative of early human encounters with the forces and energies of the Warp.

5) Because of the paradoxical nature of the Warp, and its complex relationship with time, Chaos has always existed, even before it did. Slaanesh existed well before the Fall of the Eldar, even though its birth had not happened yet.

 Vankraken wrote:
Heres my head cannon for one of the primarchs.

"I like to think that one of the Primarchs ended up on an Ork world and fought his way up the ranks to end up as a Warboss (typical Blood Axes, having an umie as a boss). The Emperor shows up to collect him but soon discovered that Ork tradition runs deep. After a while all the WAAAGHs, looting, and calling the other Primarchs gitz pushed the Emperior's patience to the limit. The Wolves where called to end Warmarch Viridius Corium and his Astorkes. The Emperor declared that all records to be purged and usage of the word "git" by any Astartes to be punishable by death."

I have discovered my Imperial Truth.

 Gordon Shumway wrote:
My Night Lords are actual vampires. In the old Rogue Trader rulebook there was a brief blurb about vampires existing in the 40k universe. It has since been retconned out through omission, so I guess that makes it head cannon. My NL warband abhorred the corruption that chaos was starting to inflict on their bodies and minds, so they set out looking for a cure or halt to their corruption. They found it in the form of the vampire virus/curse. It makes for fun modeling opportunities. Vargheists are much cooler looking than spawn models.

They sound awesome.

I guess my own piece of head cannon, if it could even be considered that. Is that whenever there are inconsistencies in the fluff, it's because either the inquisition have interfered somehow, or there has been a mass cover up. Similar to how inconsistencies and stuff were portrayed in 1984 basically.

 Disciple of Fate wrote:


Also, putting two or three zero's after every number given by GW. 1000 guardsmen in one regiment? How about 100.000, just not buying the one regiment as reinforcement or whatever thing succeeding.

^^^^ EXALTED. SO MUCH THIS. Especially with Space Marines. The tiny numbers they throw out for planet and solar system spanning conflicts are ridiculous.

My Night Lords are actual vampires. In the old Rogue Trader rulebook there was a brief blurb about vampires existing in the 40k universe. It has since been retconned out through omission, so I guess that makes it head cannon.

Well, Blood Angels who fall to the Red Thirst are pretty much vampires...

5) Because of the paradoxical nature of the Warp, and its complex relationship with time, Chaos has always existed, even before it did. Slaanesh existed well before the Fall of the Eldar, even though its birth had not happened yet.

This is canon. It's been flat out stated in several places.

BrianDavion wrote:
the "power grab" theory falls apart when you ask why a man who had the largest legion would split them up.

my personal theory is the codex and the division etc where done as a comprimise and the rest of the high lords had initally wanted to disband the Legions.

not really. all of his 'chapters' are fanatically devoted to him and his tactics. the problem with the second part is that Guilliman was the only one pushing for it, as well as the fact that he split up the imperial army AND created the administratum. he wanted power, and the most secure way to do that was to ensure that he had the most marines left after the heresy (part of the reason they were so late getting to terra) and he ensured that the imperial army fought on his doctrine under his administratum's command making sure that if push came to shove, he had more power than the other broken up legions

really, this is all super trimmed down, and ignores the political 'fun' of imperium secundus (how guilliman told people "oh no, it's sanguinius who's in charge" without pointing out that sanguinius was literally a figure head only) among other things

The over the top stories of kaldor draigo's victories in the warp are just rumors the Grey Knights pass around to each other. In reality Draigo is fighting a hopeless and pointless struggle angaist demons that he can never truly kill.

Also Kaldor and Kharn have become rivals/nemesis after running into each other on several occasions and have over the top superfights wherein neither can best the other, and have become enemies something like Peter Griffon and the giant chicken.

"Kharn..." "Draigo!" "KHARN!" "DRAIGOOOOO!"

It's perfect

Most of my 'headcanon' is built up from a combination of fan theories, canon fluff, one off blurbs, deduction, and reconciling older fluff. Instead of using it to headcanon away official canonical fiction and background, my headcanon adds to it instead.


Some examples:


1. Doombreed was Genghis Khan. It's been written that he was a warlord from Old Earth, and a popular fan theory is that he was Genghis Khan. So, I roll with that.


2. It's fairly well known that the warp storms, that were the final nail in the coffin of Humanity's galactic federation,was caused by the gestation of Slaanesh (thanks a lot Sphess Elves ). In my headcanon, it was the conception and early gestation of Slaanesh, and the resulting stirrings in the Warp, that led to the explosion of psykers born among Mankind. in the centuries before the collapse.

3. This ties in to number two. The acceleration of Mankind's evolution into a psychic race during this time drew closer scrutiny from the Dark Powers. In my headcanon, as a result, the Men of Iron uprising was engineered by Chaos (Tzeentch in particular) to cripple Humanity.

4. Humanity, according to canon, had treaties with various xenos races during the Age of Technology. I expanded upon this, and headcanon that Mankind's federation and the Eldar Empire had peaceful relations and open trade with one another during that time.

5. The Eldar myth of the War in Heaven, based on canonical information, was just a fanciful retelling of the war between the Old Ones and C'Tan. But in my headcanon, factual history was either preserved, or rediscovered by the Eldar at some point. That would explain why, despite the War in Heaven being shrouded in myth, the Eldar recognizes the Necrons, the threat they pose, and the ancient devices of that age.

6. The Imperial Army made limited use of the Deimos Rhino, Deimos Predator, and Fellblade during the Great Crusade in my headcanon.

7. The standard pattern Land Raider in Imperial Army service was the older Proteus, with a few Mk, IIs floating around. (the first is based on logical deduction, the second is pure headcanon).

8. Headcanon: When Guilliman's reforms were instituted, most of the surviving high tech superheavies (such as the Falchion) went to the newly formed Imperial Guard. The Astartes, however squirreled away a few in case the need arose, when they became high-speed, low-drag. None of these units are known to survive in Imperial Guard service, after the Age of Apostasy accelerated the slide into GRIMDARK.

9. STC-based designs in general use among the Imperium's armed forces were "monkey" or "bottom of the barrel" units, for use by hardscrabble colonies on the Human federation's frontier. They used simpler, proven technologies and concepts going back thousands of years. They don't represent the best Humanity had to offer during the Dark Age. This is extrapolation from the background of vehicles like the Land Raider, Rhino, Baneblade, etc.

10. Based on the various ammo types available to autoguns in the RPGs, the autogun is a superior tactical weapon to the lasgun. Logistics was the only reason it was replaced in widespread Imperial service.


That's just a few examples of my headcanon attempts.

 fallinq wrote:


This is canon. It's been flat out stated in several places.

Mind quoting an actual source? Because most of the sources I've seen put a definitive time on when the Warp went all Chaos-y. Before the War In Heaven, it is said to have been a calm and flowing plane of psychic energy without Chaos' influence, unless I'm missing something.

The lasgun vs auto gun logistical vs tactical thing is pretty much straight up canon, isn't it?
It's repeatedly stated that lasguns are stupidly simple to make, operate, and (re-)supply, and that is the reason the imperium uses it over other options.

Anyway, my head canon goes a little like this: Khorne is not the god of rage or war, not directly at least; he is the god of defiance – every line drawn in the sand, every trench dug, every "this far and no further" speech made, these are Khorne's truest acts of worship.
Equally, Slaanesh is not directly the god of lust or debauchery but of acceptance.
Thus the Four are two sets of opposed pairs that have had their respective purviews overloaded.

From there you get the Emperor, god of Duty, the centre place who equally embodies the four cornerstones of hope, defiance, despair, and acceptance and you also get why the Four hate him so much; not only has he stolen part of themselves but he also embodies each of their opposites.

Anyway, that's the basis of how I see it all working though there's loads more that I should probably write down some day.

Many of the apparent contradictions in the fluff simply represent different threads of the skein (what could be / what could have been).

There is no Khorne, merely Tzeentch masquerading as a separate entity. This explains why Khorne forces can take Tzeentch forces as allies, despite the fact they are more natural enemies than any of the others. Also why Khorne is able to achieve anything long term

 JustALittleOrkish wrote:
There is no Khorne, merely Tzeentch masquerading as a separate entity. This explains why Khorne forces can take Tzeentch forces as allies, despite the fact they are more natural enemies than any of the others. Also why Khorne is able to achieve anything long term

Khorne is not Tzeentch's natural enemy. Khorne and Tzeentch both represent activity and struggle, and bloodletting is a status of transition - change.

Nurgle is Tzeentch's natural enemy. Nurgle is love, despair and acceptance. Tzeentch is disdain, change and proactivity. Hope, in other words.

Yet another "some headcannon from the top of the cannon on my head" list:

1: The Emperor and the Eldar god Isha has a relationship of some form. Isha has actually been far more instrumental in all the Emperors achievments then let on about, being the godess of life she's his link to information in the warp and has been helping him staying alive.

2: Humanity during the "golden age of mankind" where much like the tau are now.

3: The Hrud is the third most widespread race in the galaxy, after humanity and orcs.

4: Most of the prophecies of "end times" and "tides of destructions" are actually warp echoes of numerous races foretelling the comming of man and hence their doom.

5: The Tyranids have travelled through multiple galaxies and is the only force we know of from outside the milky way. They are thus unrelated to the old ones and chaos and is simply a diffrent form of evolved life. The milky way is the galaxy where they have encountered the most resistance as they have already devoured star trek/star wars equivilant galaxies.

6: The four gods of chaos actually symbolise the four states of existence. Being birth, growth, decay and death.

7: Living beings don't fear death. They fear the Nightbringer.

Points 5 and 6 are cannon anyway. Not the specific levels of tech and resistance in other galaxies, but the nids wokd have had a hard time getting a foot hold here without significant prior experience with thus sort of stuff.