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I'm new to the hobby so apologies if I've missed something.

I know that some real world cities are treated like ancient myths (Neuvo York or something?), but is our current time ever mentioned directly in 40k? Our culture, technology etc?

Forgive me if I'm wrong but surely the very fact that it's called 40k means the people then must at least be aware of ancient history, as surely it's 40,000 years...after Christ? So are they aware of that, at least?

In the books they sometimes quote shakespire. Also Malcadore has a painting of a woman with the most piticular smile (Mona Lisa reference?)

Malcador also sends out troops to recover the Rosetta stone.

SaltySeaDog wrote:
I'm new to the hobby so apologies if I've missed something.

I know that some real world cities are treated like ancient myths (Neuvo York or something?), but is our current time ever mentioned directly in 40k? Our culture, technology etc?

Forgive me if I'm wrong but surely the very fact that it's called 40k means the people then must at least be aware of ancient history, as surely it's 40,000 years...after Christ? So are they aware of that, at least?

It depends how broad "our current times" is to you. I can remember mentions of Van Gogh and Nicolas Tesla but that's late 19th - early 20th. I think that addressing our current times is considered too "political" for GW without any necessity or incentive to do so, now that they are out of their 80's punk-beatnik art direction.

Ahriman also has a few trinkets from our time. And some that have been lost to us already.

SaltySeaDog wrote:
I'm new to the hobby so apologies if I've missed something.

I know that some real world cities are treated like ancient myths (Neuvo York or something?), but is our current time ever mentioned directly in 40k? Our culture, technology etc?

Forgive me if I'm wrong but surely the very fact that it's called 40k means the people then must at least be aware of ancient history, as surely it's 40,000 years...after Christ? So are they aware of that, at least?

You see references to the modern world during the Heresy era.



Damon Prytanis was at the Little Big Horn and the Battle of Iwo Jima. He met Ollanius Persson at 73 Easting during the Gulf War in 1991.


Prytanis also mentions that he "killed a good man at Memphis". It likely he's referring to Memphis, Tennessee and Martin Luther King Jr.


Ollanius Persson (Pious) fought in the First World War at Verdun, fought in the Battle of Austerlitz during the Napoleonic Wars, and the Battle of 73 Easting in the Gulf War (which means he was in the United States Army at the time). Older than even the Emperor, he was one of the oldest Perpetuals (estimated at 45,000 years old, born around 15,000 B.C.)

Malcador and his order (The Sigillites) made it their mission to preserve Humanity's surviving artifacts from even before the Age of Strife. Malcador possessed da Vinci's Mona Lisa (which somehow survived the Age of Strife) and Van Gogh's work Sunflowers. He had an extensive knowledge of Human history. Malcador even maintained a museum in the Imperial Palace. Whether or not it survived into the 41st Millennium is unknown.

Shakespeare's plays (or at least three of them) survived the Age of Strife, into the Heresy Era.


Ollanius Persson was still a practicing Christian (called Catheric by that time, probably refers to Catholicism).


The Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da Vinci survived into the post-Old Night period.


New York City is referenced (corrupted into Nova Yoruk) as is the city of "Atlantys" (referencing either Atlanta, Georgia or the lost continent of Atlantis). The United States (Merica), the United Kingdom (Britania), and Germany (Jermani) are mentioned as having prospered (and wilted) during the Age of Terra.


Most of what is generally know about our time is mostly mentioned in generalities. Most of the information/history of the Age of Terra has supposedly been lost. But considering Malcador's little side project of historical preservation, I suspect that the highers up in the Imperium's Adeptus Terra know a lot more about our time than they let on in the 41st Millennium.

Honestly, It's as if we were studying the Mayan civilization. Sometimes referenced, often times related, but most don't really care or don't know really. The current events is enough to distract them easily.