I want to be up front as to why I’m posting this: I cannot really play
40k right now because those I play with are having a crisis of
40k faith, and it has spread to me. So, I am posting this in order to help reason through said crisis so that we can all play again (and perhaps better contextualize why we are playing it). I want to do this through talking about these hang-ups of ours, which would be best dealt with talking through and exploring the topic with the community. I can use some help with that. In short, I am trying to bring my group back into
40k! So if you have some good points to poke holes in my thinking here, they are more than welcome.
Mostly, my issue right now is that the people I have always played
40k with are thinking of bowing out for good because of what their support of the franchise might
mean.
And what I hate is that after thinking about it, I actually do get it.
As far as I can tell from my readings about
40k and fascists/the alt-right/etc. online (of which I have done a fair bit so far), people tend to really dismiss absolutely any validity that these people have for choosing to idolize
40k over other IP’s for all kinds of reasons, which I also totally get because I did for the longest time too, but I think they miss some key points. I think there’s more credit due to the idea that
40k is easily idolized by these forces of hatred than folks seem to give these people. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I fear that
40k might actually have an intrinsic problem that comes with the lore, as-consumed by today’s real-world population.
People say ‘
lol 40k is a joke/satire/what have you’. “The Imperium is SO stupidly terrible, that no one should ever take it seriously.” “Obviously everything is horrible and there is nothing to admire here.” But as many will tell you,
40k is actually NOT presented as any sort of joke, not really. It’s ultra serious; rooted in parody perhaps, but is now largely not. The joke was basically that fascists and hatred is terrible, look at how ridiculous their world would be. And while I don’t think the change in tone to seriousness in
40k directly supports the idea that astartes/the Imperium/etc. are NOT terrible in any way, its still leaving things woefully unclear.
So
40k stopped being obviously satirical decades ago, and I personally have
always taken the lore extremely seriously (having started during 3rd edition myself), in that, when you think about it, all that is required for it to be very realistic is the assumption that the warp exists. That’s in any case at least one way to look at it being a grounded, realistic sort of universe. There’s lots of other ways to draw very direct comparisons to
40k and the real world but I’d rather not go to off topic with that here. But regardless, I’ve actually always thought that the Imperium was a ‘beautiful creation’ – speaking purely in a narrative, engaging sense. Not that it would be a good place to live – obviously. The immersion of being a part of these terrible people partaking in this terrible universe has been appealing because of how new the problems are, and the sheer terror of what you face and then subsequently overcome together, while being a part of the mess of humanity. And that's fun and interesting as hell. I think all of this while, of course, being quite the opposite of these fascists/alt-right/people-spouting-hatred. In fact, I’ve always been proud of
40k as an IP because of the discussions I knew it could always bring about, partially in regards to humanity being at its worst, what they could accomplish in that state verses what they completely disallowed, just hypothetically. But I’ve also always believed that we cannot afford to leave any quarter for hatred to breed in. And if Warhammer
40k has only growing in that capacity…
I’ve read post after post after post about all of this, and I can’t help but think that most people are missing the mark. There
is some reason, I think – blatant reason – why fascists would, and indeed perhaps almost should look to the Imperium as a model of pure
strength. And if that’s what matters to them, that’s what matters to them (unfortunately). People are always saying that the Imperium is obviously the worst in every way – dancing around the actual reasons why these people look up to it. In a grimdark galaxy, it stands. It is resolute. Parts of it fall just as parts of it rise, but the Imperium
does keep humanity alive. It is our deepest, darkest, worst impulses of governance and otherwise to the point where we’ve almost lost ourselves completely – and yet it
works in this universe, and has endured for millennia. Even if you say that this is a story where humanity is overcoming not just the galaxy but also itself (a true and grimdark point to make), I would still give credit to the Imperium. The Imperium is a force to be reckoned with. One potentially sad point to real life fascists…maybe.
BUT (counter-point). The thing that people are trying to say but aren’t giving enough voice to is how there could be something BETTER. Instead of a fascist, dominating Imperium that allows for no voice within its throngs of underlings, there
could be a government that works much more collectively, more democratically, or what have you – just like that one democratic hive on Necromunda, Gothrul's Needle (yes, democracy exists in
40k – even if it is still terrible in that hive). So there’s the thing – the Imperium is gloriously messed up but strong, yet if the government was replaced with something much more sensible, it would be
so much better. Presumably. The problem is that sort of solution has barely even been vaguely, tertiarily SHOWN as even a possibility to sustain within the lore (for humanity). I get that is potentially a part of the grimdark theme – but there is so much room here for more clarity on the part of the narrative. And I suspect Gulliman’s work may show just how much better the Imperium COULD be. So there is certainly hope.
To clarify what I mean by that – better solutions to evil Empires is displayed better in, for example, Star Wars. In Star Wars, you have the ‘evil Empire’,
and a rebellion, a republic, etc. You can
see the alternative to the Empire very plainly. You can know the failings of these evil empires very easily, and see a better, more righteous alternative in which others get a say. You do not get that in Warhammer
40k. There is
the Imperium. THE solution. Maybe there was some fancy idea of something way better in the Horus Heresy and that’s obviously a tragedy that given all their actions they still couldn’t sustain even a fraction of that vision, but there is some very real argument that because of the Horus Heresy’s failure, and any other government’s failure to have stopped the Imperium, that the message becomes “humanity is at its (at least martially) best when it’s at its worst”. Therein lies the danger, I suspect. That message.
That subtext. I fear the Imperium
does seem to support this theory, given the lack of any other evidence to the contrary, and the routine triumphs they make. These triumphs are supposedly in
spite of the government etc. (given the ‘satire’ of the IP), but what actual proof of that is there? The Imperium is supposed to be ‘the most oppressive regime imaginable’, after all, sayeth the intro quote, so there should theoretically be a better one. Unless the Tau government is somehow supposed to be the example?
Some people might say it would be needless modernization of
40k lore to get Guilliman to really re-arrange things, or split the Imperium in two in some way. Letting the “SJW’s” have their way with things. I don’t care. I think this is necessary going forward, because when you are faced with it,
really faced with the realization that supporting Warhammer
40k monetarily (by purchasing its products etc.) or otherwise – might grow a franchise that will only encourage more fascists more than most any other IP…is sort of a disgusting possibility. Again, please disprove me on any of this if you’re able; it’s why I’m here.
We want to deny that, thoroughly – but I fear it’s just the truth. That IS the fact of the matter, I fear, even if it is only to a small degree, which is unfortunately unlike any other IP I’m aware of. And boy is today not a great day and age to be encouraging hatred in.
In any case, this is the rut I currently find myself in, with my thinking. To me, Warhammer
40k has always been so much more than this. It’s glorious, fun, and yes - dark, sure…but only to the point where it enhances the fun. There’s no need to enjoy it at 1,100% sadistic levels like you can bring any franchise, just like you don’t
have to enjoy it or see it in any way that encourages hate. It’s creative, it explores various aspects of humanity and in ways we never really see in popular fiction. But the option to see it in a way that encourages hatred is certainly there. I fear it is too easy to see.
So perhaps it’s not truly a question of whether or not Warhammer
40k should encourage these people (I think it shouldn’t for all kinds of reasons – namely that hatred is bad, duh), but the fact of the matter is that it
does. And more so than virtually any other IP. Right? If anyone can dissuade me of this thinking or refute any of my specific points, for the love of the God-Emperor please do so, below. For sake of my hobby, and our hobby group.
As I alluded to before, I’ve read a number of articles, threads, etc. on this. This one, saying
40k is a lost cause, I think goes a step too far.
40k certainly isn’t a lost cause, which basically everyone in the comments seems to agree with:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Sigmarxism/comments/i50ra7/unpopular_opinion_warhammer_40k_is_a_lost_cause/
There have also been threads about how
40k isn’t ready for the mainstream yet, and it can go a ways before getting there (I agree – i.e. Guilliman, etc.). That’s also echoed in another article where Leakycheese talks out against Arch and his legion (who is also quoted a bit too much in this article):
https://www.vice.com/en/article/9358ke/the-warhammer-40k-community-is-trying-to-weed-out-its-far-right-faction" target="_new" rel="nofollow">
https://www.vice.com/en/article/9358ke/the-warhammer-40k-community-is-trying-to-weed-out-its-far-right-faction It’s articles like this that do give hope to the whole thing, at least.
Ultimately I think what I’m going to land on is what Leakycheese did, as said in that article:
“Leakycheese suggests that a positive step would be a sign posted in every Games Workshop franchise, making clear to all customers that prejudice has no place in the community. Some changes to the lore of
40k would not go amiss, either; there should be greater ethnic diversity in models, he says, and it should be abundantly clear that the Imperium of Man aren’t the “good guys”.
“They need to put the satire back into it,” he says. “The other thing they need to do is stop making Space Marines appear as heroes; people on the alt-right think they are superhuman Übermensch warriors – they [Games Workshop] do stuff around that; it just needs to be brought back to the fore.”
It really is just too dangerous to let the Space Marines, Imperium etc., be marketed as the good guys; no one should get the impression that virtually every marine is good. I’ve always believed that the best thing about
40k is how primarily smaller groups, maybe a planet here and there, a handful of astartes chapters, etc., continue to actually be noble and fight for humanity, in spite of everything. That includes, of course, doing so in spite of the Imperium’s terribleness.
That sort of goodness shining through is the real story of
40k,
imo. The biggest reason to stick around in and for
40k (not to mention the possibility that humanity just needs to hang on long enough for it to become a fully psychic race, in which everything potentially gets better. That is just brilliant, exciting stuff, courtesy of the Emperor). Conversely, the way people are too easily able to perceive the lore now is upside-down; that these individual good people aren’t the emphasis for marketing, but rather the Imperium and its horrific military presence. They're celebrated because they are powerful and able to overcome xenos etc., and for little other virtue. And that emphasis needs to change, just like Leakycheese said – there needs to be a clearer emphasis on doing what is right in the face of what is wrong.
BUT, I do not want to wait to enjoy
40k until these things happen. I want to be able to more than justify to myself and my friends that there is absolutely no problem with playing, supporting, and buying
40k stuff right now. And to be honest, I’d rather not be doing so purely based on a pure hope that things will improve.
[Spoiler] And there are signs of it. I just recently caught wind of how in one of the latest novels, “Watchers of the Throne: The Regent's Shadow" by Chris Wraight, shows how the High Lords of terra
already began a civil war of sorts against Guilliman, before being completely annihilated by Guilliman’s machinations, on account of his understanding of how corrupt and terrible the high lords were. The civil war has already come to
40k…and I for one could not be more relieved. This is the conflict that needs to happen. [/endSpoiler]
So, there are a few questions to think about here, ultimately.
Heresy World Eaters/Emperors Children 
