http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/31.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net HH took place more or less in the middle of Big Es reconquista of humanity to make a unified human empire. Right? So, 1. was the conquest ever finished? After the HH Big E is comatose, all the loyal primarchs are off fighting Chaos, and the actual humans seem to be really busy forming a government and religion.
2. Could have any human worlds slip through the cracks? Is there, perhaps, a small human empire that has grown with out the Emporers influence?
3. I know that most worlds rediscovered during the Great Crusade had regressed in technology, but' that isn't necessarily a hard rule, is it? Could there be human worlds where technology has advanced?
Lastly, 4. Do sentient machines in the 40k verse always rebel from their creators, or is it possible for the two to co-exists? Are Men of Iron situations the rule or merely the most common possibility?]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9239354.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9239354.page GMT 2. Yes
3. There are, they even visit a few in the HH novels
4. There are a couple that did appear to... then they got stomped for their ways]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9239368.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9239368.page GMT http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9239390.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9239390.page GMT IoM and the whole galactic war that didn't keep advancing provided they solved some of the more warp influenced calamities (read: daemon incursions).

There could be a whole world of blanks (or mostly blanks) with advanced stealth technology that function much like Asimov's Foundation just waiting for war to tear galaxy apart only to to come back and fix it after the major threats have finally fizzled out.

I also think while AI seems to go bad most of the time, that doesn't mean it does all of the time. Perhaps in some systems humanity got it right. However, they saw what the rest of the galaxy is up to and decided unlike the Tau, to not get involved if at all possible.

Regardless whether they do or don't exist, and don't contribute to the setting's story so they wouldn't be worth even mentioning. After all, who wants to play in the 40K universe but have absolutely nothing to do with 40K.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9239532.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9239532.page GMT http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9240149.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9240149.page GMT IoM human interstellar civilisations is fascinating. There's not much in the existing lore that hasn't been destroyed or subsumed by the IoM, but that doesn't mean that they're not out there. Plus, it pretty much gives you free reign to come up with your own grimdark human civilisations.

There's some kickass examples from the Horus Heresy of human civilisations encountered. People like the Interex, Diasporex and the Olamic Quietude.

It doesn't even have to be civilisations out on the fringes of the galaxy. Because warp travel requires stable/passable warp routes, and can be blocked off by storms for thousands and thousands of years, there could be undiscovered civilisations right next door (comparatively) to Imperial worlds and each has no idea the other is there until the storms abate.

Iron Sleet's Green Mechanicum is a great example of what societal changes could happen to a Mechanicus society that's been isolated for thousands and thousands of years

I also think there's fantastic potential for successful human civilisations that have relationships with the Chaos Gods. Say, a standard (but grimdark) civilisation that bases their technology on Chaos tech things like daemonic possession of vehicles/equipment and stuff like Fleshmetal as standard equipment.

Loads of ideas to explore ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9240329.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/720032/9240329.page GMT