/r/40kLore

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A subreddit for the lore and stories encompassing the dark future of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise

Official lore and fan fluff are welcomed.

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A subreddit for the lore and stories encompassing the dark future of the 41st millennium. Get a full context of what that means here

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Subreddit Rules

  • Rule 1: Be respectful. Hate speech, trolling, and aggressive behavior will not be tolerated, and may result in a ban.
  • Rule 2: No soliciting. Please don't use this as a platform to promote your blog, crowdfunding, or anything of the ilk. Posts featuring self-promotion will be removed.
  • Rule 3: Please use SPOILER tags when necessary. To add a spoiler to one of your comments, simply wrap it in exclamation marks and arrows >!!<. E.g: >!Spoilers go here!<;This is the result: Spoilers go here. Also, no spoilers in post titles.
  • Rule 4: No Memes, shitposts, or low-effort posts/comments. Leave those in /r/Grimdank. This includes "who would win" and broad "what if" scenarios. This also includes text blocks consisting of Ork-speak, which should be posted at /r/40kOrkScience instead.
  • Rule 4b: Do not post just links (YouTube, Imgur, Bell of Lost Souls, etc). While these are allowed in specific cases, you must also provide a summary of the work, a specific reason you are posting, and credit to the original creator.
  • Rule 4c: All hypothetical question posts must make an effort to answer the question. Do your best to provide lore-based reasoning behind your answer.
  • Rule 5: This subreddit is for discussion of 40k lore only. Please do not post/discuss rules or tactics of the tabletop, painting, building, or miniatures. There are other subreddits for that. Please also do not post/discuss things that are generally off-topic to 40k lore.
  • Rule 6: No opinion-based, real-world politics. Full stop. Pointing out or analyzing the political references, satire, and allegories in the lore is okay, provided it is in an objective, academic manor. Making judgement or directing your posts/comments at individual users is not a good faith effort. Such posts/comments will be removed and bans may apply. No mentions of 'woke' or 'forced inclusivity' or dog whistling, et al.
  • Rule 7: Official lore and fan fiction/fluff are welcome, but posting screenshots of official Games Workshop and/or Black Library material is not allowed. You may transcribe the text, however, and we request that you cite the book it came from. Fan fiction must be labeled, such as using [F] to denote such a post.
  • Rule 8: Posts containing novel excerpts must be supported by at least a paragraph describing why this moment is important, be it a grand revelation in the lore or a critical turning point in a character design. Excerpts must also be a "reasonable length", page long direct copies are not permitted. If you can't get to the point in a few paragraphs, it might not be worth posting.
  • Rule 9: No excerpts from a novel (novellas/short stories excluded) released within the last 30 days, so that there is time for others to read it. Discussion threads/comments are welcome but must be appropriately marked with spoiler tags and have no revealing information in the post title.
  • Rule 10: Certain topics are considered too controversial and tend to always end in arguments, rule-breaking, and reports. Please review the short conversation blacklist on our wiki before commenting or posting.

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/r/40kLore

329,795 Subscribers

11

What 40k book is this from?

This meme about Trazyn the Infinite. I assume its "The Infinite and the Divine" but I haven't read that one yet.

13 Comments
2025/01/17
05:07 UTC

5

Do Chaos Marines value Loyalist gene seed of certain lineages more?

Given how valuable loyalist Gene Seed is to Chaos Space Marines for rituals and getting new Chaos Marines, do they also value certain lineages more or less than others?

I can picture that the Gene Seed of Sanguinus' sons might be very valuable both for it's wide acceptance ranges and because stealing the gene-seed from the closest thing to a Christ figure in the Imperium is a good way to throw some dirt into the Blood Angels. Especially amongst the Black Legion.

7 Comments
2025/01/17
04:20 UTC

24

What if the capsule carrying Baby Mortarion had landed in Catachan instead of Barbarus?

I'm reposting this, I don't know exactly why one of the moderators removed my previous post. Finally, in your opinion, if Mortarion had survived and grown until the arrival of the Emperor, how different would he be in your humble opinion?

25 Comments
2025/01/17
04:18 UTC

1

How long have Midris and Israphael known each other?

No spoilers past Descent of Angels please. I just finished the book and some questions have stuck with me. One of them being about the extent of Israphaels relationship with Midris. Unless I missed something, they had just recently met at the time of Zahariels REAL interrogation but their dialogue feels like they've known each other for years.

0 Comments
2025/01/17
04:14 UTC

7

adeptus administratum chaos corruption

Is there any many know examples adeptus administratum having chaos followers in it? I was thinking that corruption (even more) could be the best way to cripple the imperium. They could make the wrong supplies to the wrong area. Instead of las guns and ammo for the imperial guard at the front line, they would receive a shipment of toilet bowel cleaners. Raw material being seen to forge worlds going missing.

7 Comments
2025/01/17
01:45 UTC

51

What is even the relevance of Alpha Legion and Primarchs?

I just feel like Alpha Legion and it's Primarchs just haven't really had any significance in doing anything, with no real motives or actions.

Feels like 40k would lose nothing if they never existed.

What's their point?

53 Comments
2025/01/17
01:43 UTC

0

Imperium's size ?

If the imperium only controls a thousand worlds , but the galaxy has millions of stars let alone millions of worlds . Doesn't that mean that there is a lot of worlds that are simply never discovered ? In a similar vein, if these words were colonized by humans during the dark age of technology , and never discovered by the imperium till now , couldn't they have star spanning empires of their own ?

16 Comments
2025/01/17
01:02 UTC

11

Would the Carcharodons (or space sharks) have tech marines?

I know tech marines get sent off to the admechs to learn but since the space sharks aren't technically supported by the imperium I don't know.

5 Comments
2025/01/17
00:51 UTC

51

What Space Marines are Best in Unconventional Warfare?

Ya know beyond the Alpha Legion, Night Lords & Raven Guard.

Bonus Points: If it's a Succesor Chapter or Warband.

45 Comments
2025/01/17
00:26 UTC

0

Space marine Battles

Which of the Space Marine Battles books are worth reading/listening to? Can't be arsed with investing time into pointless stories

TIA

5 Comments
2025/01/16
23:40 UTC

237

How come none of the traitor Primarchs talk about the lost legions?

So I am reading The First Heretic and Magnus and Lorgar talk about the 2 lost brothers and how they swore an oath to not talk about them.

Why would the traitor Primarchs, never break that oath? I imagine knowledge about that could wreak havoc in the Imperium, if anyone believed them.

Do they just not care enough?

In real life I know why, but in universe im curious.

106 Comments
2025/01/16
23:21 UTC

0

Are there any good books about dreadnoughts?

I’m writing a homebrew space marine chapter that has more dreadnoughts than average. Are there any good warhammer books that go into the experiences of dreadnoughts and how they interact with their brothers/chapter?

9 Comments
2025/01/16
23:18 UTC

0

A bit of existential horror for tha Prophet

After reading Prophet of the Waaargh and knowing what's in trazyn's vault I want Ghazghull to meet the Krork that is trapped in stasis. I want him to expect it to be the orkiest ork to ever ork, only for it to be extremely regimented and demanding to know why the ork species has become so unruly. The Krork reveals everything of there history to Ghaz, and ghaz finds it so unorky he becomes horrified, it sounds worse then what the bloodaxes get up to with acting all humie like. Says "Dis ain't what da godz want". Only to have it revealed that then ork gods where born from the programming the old ones put into them. And that the big fights Ghaz has been having are going to eventually happen either he wants it to or not. Now Ghaz has a predicament. He's an ork, he wants to fight, but if he does he will cease to be an ork. He will become this Krork. And for the first time in his long life, Ghaz finds something that utterly horrifies him.

2 Comments
2025/01/16
23:03 UTC

0

if mars contain ctan like void dragon. why didnt necron attack it ?

necron being the most powerfull faction in entire galaxy require lots of weapon to face tyranids. means they can sent main fleet to capture that dragon easily.

besides imperium surrounded and weakened. destroying mars and capturing void dragon will turn tide of war in necron favor.

23 Comments
2025/01/16
22:11 UTC

6

Echos of Eternity

The last 3 chaters of that book have been some of the best i have read in the whole heresy. Not gonna spoil it for anyone. Damn that was a good book.

2 Comments
2025/01/16
21:54 UTC

38

How to AdMech military units compare against the Guard?

Is an average Skitarii better than an average Guardsman? Are Skitarii a completely different organisation that is an army in itself, or are they more of a special forces group or a cybernetic warfare unit in the wider Imperium?

35 Comments
2025/01/16
21:43 UTC

31

[Spoilers]The High Kâhl's Oath by Gav Thorpe - review and brief summary

I wanted to post this review as there were a few discussions about the lore in this novel there is not much about the quality of the novel itself which I want to talk about here.

When this novel was announced it was met with skepticism here, but personally I enjoy Thorpe more than the average person here it seems so I was looking forward to this. Also I think Thorpe has a few excellent novels recently like Luther and Lorgar books and a few other decent things and his worst novels were at the start of the career so I was somewhat hyped for this book.

And I am happy to say I really enjoyed this book and think it is pretty good and I finished it very quickly. It has very little bolter porn which is Thorpes weakness and instead focuses on world building and giving readers lots and lots of insight into the faction which is precisely what you want from the first novel for the faction. And it is delivered quite well through dialogue and the story instead of feeling like huge exposition segments. The main plot is also decent and so are the characters except one smaller plot thread and the character that it focuses on.

Spoilers:

!The novel begins with the last stand of the High Kalh Orthanar of The Eternal Starforge Kindred against the Orks without much context. As he is about to be defeated he gives his champion Ironhelm a ring and his Oath and tells him to run to their main base ship which they call “holds”.!<

!Next we are introduced to our main character Myrtun Dammergot who is a leader of her prospect (which is an expedition sent from the main hold to get stuff) and her crew of which include her navigator of sorts which is Lutar an Iron Kin (robot clone and her kinda boyfriend) and Jordiki which is a grimnyr (psyker) that uses eCOGS which are drones of sorts that serve in the LoV for various menial tasks. She is busy boarding an almost defeated Tyranid ship to salvage it. We get a surprising amount of lore how the ships function and their parts – probably the most in any 40k novel. This takes a chapter or two and it pretty bolter porn heavy (LoV use bolters, plasma guns, plasma close combat weapons and rockets) and she meets up with the emissary from the hold ship telling her Orthanar is dead and she is to return to the main ship to be High Kahl.!<

!The next chapters goal was to describe various relations in that area of space. As Myrtun is going home a Chaos ship (which they called The Cursed Ones) attacks an Imperium ship. Myrtun operates in a sort of neutral zone where LoV and The Imperium coexist and they are allies, but the relationship is pretty cold. After they help they invite The Imperials onboard and it does not go well because of the various cultural differences they depart, but without any bloodshed showing they still care about the alliance.!<

!Myrtun arrives at the hold ship where we get a lot of lore about Kin being created clones, their customs like drinking Bru which is a sci-fi coffee, caring about punctionality, tradition, profit, sense of kinship and how a lot of their society is guided by the Vottan which are these ancient AI that communicate with starships using “fanes” which are warp based technology for getting cryptic advice from the Vottan. Myrtun becomes new High Kahl and her first duty is to meet petitioners asking to meet her.!<

!The first one is Leki who is an old diseased looking Kin that has to use an exoskeleton to move normally and he is a member of some sub-faction which is kinda like the AdMech and they maintain some of the tech on the hold ship (mainly the shields). This plot story is a bit weak imho as it creates conflict just by Leki not getting to talk with Myrtun and I think all the problems could be fixed by a 5 minute conversation and it feels forced. As he is about to start talking with Myrtun the champion Ironhelm arrives, interrupting Leki causing him to be angry and tells his story how Orthanar went to some area of space with heavy warp storms after a personal message from the Votann in search of something unexplained. Myrtun is presented with the option to follow which she wants to do because despite being a wise old Kin she still wants to be an adventurer, but it is a risk because the Kindred could lose another Kahl again. She is conflicted, but she is swayed by her advisors telling her how the Votann surely picked her because they wanted an adventurer Kahl.!<

!After traveling through the story they find an hold on the surface where Orthanar died and decide to go deeper. They find an active fane in it which reacts to Orthanars ring he gave to Ironhelm. The ring apparently gave psychic imprints to Ironhelm and guided him through the storm. Meanwhile the main hold ship is attacked by Chaos and the fight is looking bad for the Kin because they dont have the shields. Leki cant turn them on as he needs codes for it which he does not have because Orthanar/Myrtun owe his faction because his subfaction gave the ring which guided Orthanar through the storm to that hidden planet in the warp storm with Orks.!<

!The fane Myrtun discovered after being connected with the ring reveals it is very ancient tech from when Kin left Terra leading to an ancient Votann and that was the quest Orthanar was on. The ring is a mythical artefact that can serve as a fane itself and can be used anywhere instead of requiring a whole temple building for it. There is some bolter porn as Myrtun and her friends flee the Orks. Lutar appears to be killed, but his core is actually undamaged and he is crafted a new body. Leki manages to turn the shields on and the hold ship is defended as The Imperium guys from before answer their call for help.!<

10 Comments
2025/01/16
21:33 UTC

24

The best Sniper?

Out of all the specific snipers like the Vindicare Assassin or an Deathmark, the Astartes snipers or Tau Pathfinder, who is the best Sniper in the whole setting?

52 Comments
2025/01/16
20:40 UTC

7

Fenris World Spirit --- Eldar manipulation?

So if Othere Wyrdmake and the other Space Wolf rune priests are very serious that they don't partake in the Great Sea that is the warp, and that their power comes from the World Spirit of Fenris, does that mean Fenris was build by the Eldar, who also have world spirits in their maiden worlds and craftworlds? Why do we automatically assume all maiden worlds are lovely and beauteous without mosquitos or humidity? What if Fenris started as a maiden world and then turned into a deathworld? Is the Emperor involved? Am I just crazy?

29 Comments
2025/01/16
20:22 UTC

0

Why did emperor and imperium as a whole let terra die ?

No water and total extinction only one original species remain and whole planet is basically a city

Why no one did not give a damn?

Humanities mother planet and billions of years of history of biological life gone

53 Comments
2025/01/16
20:02 UTC

0

Has There Ever Been a Character Who Directly Pointed How Worshipping the (Current) Emperor is Ironically Kind of Nurglish in a Way?

Have there been any times, where a character (Chaos Worshippers, Daemons, Xenos, Doubting Imperial Characters, etc.) pointed out that worshipping the modern-day Emperor, who is outright stated to be a "rotting carcass, the Carrion Lord" in the modern introduction for all Black Library books (or at least, for all the ones I own), kind of Nurglish in a way since one is worshipping a decaying lifeform?

I also know it's kind of the point that the Imperium does a lot of stuff that probably fuels/causes Chaos to spread since the Imperium is its own worst enemy from being grossly inefficient and backwards in many aspects from having all the greatest Followers of Chaos be former Imperium Loyalists, but I still would like to see someone outright point out the irony of the Imperium worshipping a decaying corpse while having to occasionally fight armies of daemonic, green decaying corpses.

10 Comments
2025/01/16
19:48 UTC

3

Horus Heresy & Great Crusade Story Chronological Order

I keep seeing posts that begin and try to do this over the years, to put all the short stories and novels in chronological order.

So I actually did it.

The stories are also grouped by faction, location, and year.

Here you go:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13GuMoqesmxXiemaVJs64XNG4u9j-UIa4p3g5F5w3U1g/edit?usp=sharing

1 Comment
2025/01/16
19:45 UTC

1

Blood angel or imperium Nilus books

Hey all,

I’m coming close to finishing the darkness in blood, I’ve really been enjoying the blood angels and the setting of imperium nilus (I apologise for spelling).

Are their any other novels that are out that follow on from this book, or are set around the same time period

5 Comments
2025/01/16
19:04 UTC

0

[Excerpt: Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of Waaagh!]

Ghaz’s standard bearer grot, Makari, has been captured and questioned by the Inquisition. During the questioning the Inquisitor mentions meeting Yarrick and Makari, through a Freebooter translator asks a question.

‘You have met him, then?’ enquired Biter, doing a bad job of pretending not to be interested. ‘Yes, twice.’ ‘And did he… talk about Ghazghkull much?’ Falx snorted with faint amusement as she considered her reply. ‘If you mean to ask, did Yarrick consider Ghazghkull to be his grod? Well. I can certainly confirm he hated him with every fibre of his being.’ That seemed to satisfy Makari, at least, when Biter passed it on to the grot.

0 Comments
2025/01/16
18:57 UTC

3

Twins Characters in the setting?

Being a twin myself I’m always interested in characters who are twins in the setting. So I was wondering how many there were in the setting - actual characters in books or models.

I know Ahriman is a twin, the death of his brother having sent him over the deep end when it came to the Flesh Change.

16 Comments
2025/01/16
18:31 UTC

0

What to read after Valdor birth of the imperium

It’s the first 40k book I read and it was awesome so I ordered the first three books in the Horus heresy series but I’m looking for an audiobook to get while I’m waiting for them to arrive. Chronologically what would you recommend reading before Horus rising?

4 Comments
2025/01/16
18:26 UTC

14

Do you think the Oreo Hereticus and Malleus beef?

Don’t know too much about the Ordos, so sorry in advance.

While obviously a few cultists is far different from a full-on demon incursion, it seems there’s a lot of chances for the two branches to step on eachother’s toes.

I also have a funny image in my head of a malleus inquisitor facepalming at their hereticus counterparts’ handling of a situation that seems to slightly edge towards heresy in of itself. It seems like a fun dynamic where the OH is basically a “lite-OM” and the latter gets called in when shit just hits the fan.

Any examples of this? Or am I missing something? Thanks.

39 Comments
2025/01/16
18:25 UTC

414

RIP Baleq Uthizzar. Thousand Sons Captain slain by Magnus for attempting to warn Prospero about the impending Space Wolf invasion.

After destroying The Emperors webway project, Magnus returned to Prospero to await his punishment. He blocked all communication in and out of the planet to ensure all of his sons and the civilian population were punished along with him. Baleq Uthizzar, Thousand Sons Captain, came to check on Magnus and see why he was acting so strangely. There he was accidentally exposed to Magnus’ psychic aura and saw everything - the deals with Tzeentch to stop the flesh change, the webway disaster, and the impending Space Wolf invasion. Baleq went to warn Prospero of the danger, but was murdered by his father to cover up his crimes.

90 Comments
2025/01/16
18:05 UTC

0

What to read after Genefather.

Hi,

I read the Dark imperium trilogy, then the great work and finally the Genefather. What should I read next?

11 Comments
2025/01/16
16:33 UTC

103

I never thought I would ever shed some tears on Night Lords, this book is a masterpiece

First of all, this is my first W40k book I've ever read. The characters, the dialogues, the plots, the atmosphere is top notch. I've read many fantasy novels in my lifetime from Moorcock to Sapkowki, from Tolkien to Frank Herbert and all I can say Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords Omnibus is a great example of fantasy/sci fi entertainment literature.

But I never thought I would shed some teardrops during reading Night Lords.

!When Xarl died it was indeed gruesome and so really sad and depressing. I mean he was there from the beginning, since their childhood and the emptyness in Talos after his brother's departure was so really well written. !<

Then came the part, when Octavia and Septimus visited Talos and this part conjured tears to my eyes. It's hilariously sad, it is just so well written.

!'I heard about Xarl. I'm sorry. I think... by your standards, by the Legion's ideals I mean... he was a good man.'!<

!Talos's exhalation became a snort, which in turn became a chuckle.!<

!'Yes,' he said. 'Xarl was a good man.'!<

!Octavia shook her head at the warrior's sarcasm. 'You know what I mean. He and Uzas saved me once, just as you did.'!<

!The prophet's chuckle became laughter. 'Of course. A good man. A heretic. A traitor. A murderer. A fool. My brother, the good man.'!<

!Both humans stood in silence as, for the first time in many years, Talos laughed until his black eyes watered.!<

So, I basically felt sorry for a death of a heretic, a nostaman psychopath, an ancient killing machine, and that is why this scene was so nicely written. I wholeheartedly recommend the Night Lords Omnibus to anyone.

11 Comments
2025/01/16
16:24 UTC

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